Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in Law
Revising International Law: A Liberal Account Of Natural Resources, Fernando R. Tesón
Revising International Law: A Liberal Account Of Natural Resources, Fernando R. Tesón
Scholarly Publications
In this Article, I defend the view that natural resources originally belong to individuals who have legitimately established private property claims over them. Natural resources do not belong to a collective entity such as the people or the state. My argument is simple. Relying on the Lockean contractarian tradition, I argue that individuals must delegate any resource controlled by the state. This is because all powers of the state are, morally, delegated powers. A group's claims over natural resources is entirely derivative of the original claims of its members. Only individuals can originally appropriate natural resources; only they have the …