Adopted by consensus in 1982, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOS) part XI was “watered down” in 1994. The contentious issue: the legal applications of the Common Heritage of Mankind (CHM) principle. What factors make it possible to apply this principle at one point and practically impossible at another? Confronting these two opposed points through the analysis of three variables (the participation of business groups, the degree of consolidation of an independent LOS legal field, and CHM advocators’ political strategy in applying it “beyond national jurisdiction”), we identify which social ties and political strategies contributed to the translation of an ethical concept of common good into a legal norm. CHM’s weak insertion in the legal social field (outside the UN), the more organized business lobby (within the UN) and the transformation of the debate from peace to an exclusively economic matter favoured the 90s process.
