ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the complex issue of entitlement to access to resources and shows that, in fact, purely private resources are rare and that multiple rights in property — common rights — are widespread. “Property” is the term used to describe a legally endorsed concentration of power over things and resources. The concept of “property” is, accordingly, not static, but dynamic. The juxtaposition of ideas of exclusion and access already indicates that the “property” concept has both a private and a public dimension. The distinction between these two dimensions or axes falls roughly at the boundary of what historically has been called the “commons”. There is a public “property” in the commons which is no less significant in that the “property” which may be claimed in those resources is privatized or propertized. And it is this double-edged aspect of the “property” concept which has vital explanatory power in elucidating the common heritage of humankind.
