The main characteristic of common goods is that anyone within a group of people can use and abandon this or that resource without it being subject to exclusive appropriation and control. The part of an individual. In other words, “Common goods are those over which no social unit (individual, family, company) has exclusive rights, whether property rights or usage rights. It is the example of communal property (woods or pastures) of medieval Europe, which served as a historical reference for this reflection (1). » In the Middle Ages, in fact, the lands were open to everyone’s harvest: anyone could go and collect firewood, mushrooms, peasants could let their sheep graze… It was in the 13th century in England that King John and the barons exclusively appropriated these commons; this enclosure policy provoked vast popular movements, which gave rise in 1215, with the Magna Carta and the Forest Charter, to a new regulation of the right of use.

Common goods can be classified into four categories according to two parameters: the first relates to the nature open to all or only to a specific group. If the air or road networks are open to all, this is not the case for pastures or irrigation networks, which have limited access. The second parameter indicates whether the system of common goods is regulated: if the air we breathe is not regulated, it is different for the air we reject and for pollution; in other words, there exists a whole range of regulations for common goods which will vary for multiple reasons (accessibility, political choices, etc.). The rules concerning the governance of common goods are, therefore, varied, but in all cases, no higher authority can dictate them. They self-regulate by creating their control systems. According to Elinor Ostrom, it is better to encourage cooperation through institutional arrangements adapted to local ecosystems rather than trying to direct everything from a distance, which does not prevent governments or international organizations from playing a decisive role in the recognition of common goods.

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