Preliminary Ideas on the Collective Goods Concept

Abstract

Over the last decades, the use of the term collective goods has become widespread, both in a social and –as far as it matters– legal framework. However, such generalization has not gone together with a clear understanding of the scope of the concept.

This article briefly reviews different approaches that have been made on that definition and discusses –from a critical point of view– aspects that have been pinpointed as identifying characters of these goods. In turn, these goods are compared with public goods of public finances, with public domain goods on the Administrative Law field, and with Roman Law res communis omnium.

Overlapping categories are pointed out in the face of rules issued at different times that have not been harmonized, and it is concluded that a general review of the framing of goods and their regulation is a must for our legal system to become more coherent and methodical under the prevailing legal paradigm.