title: Property rights, genes, and common good.
abstract: This paper applies aspects of Hugo Grotius's theologically informed theory of property to contemporary issues concerning access to the human DNA sequence and patenting practices. It argues that Christians who contribute to public debate in these areas might beneficially employ some of the concepts with which he worked--notably "common right," the "right of necessity," and "use right." In the seventeenth century, wars were fought over trading rights and access to the sea. In the twenty-first century, information and intellectual property are the issues of the day. Grotius's writings serve to correct the overemphasis in modern liberalism on individual rights, and have practical application to the debate concerning the reduction of the human genome to the status of private property.
authors.forename: Esther D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Reed
mesh_terms: D022126:Access to Information / Q000941:ethics; D001483:Base Sequence; D002835:Christianity; D030561:Databases, Nucleic Acid; D004777:Environment; D005610:Freedom; D015894:Genome, Human; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D016045:Human Genome Project; D006806:Human Rights / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D007603:Jurisprudence; D010067:Ownership / Q000941:ethics* / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000639:trends; D010330:Patents as Topic / Q000941:ethics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D010684:Philosophy; D033303:Protestantism; D035621:Secularism; D012935:Social Justice; D028725:Theology