HoST, 2008, 1: 13-42 The emergence of early modern Commons: Technology, Heritage and Enlightenment By Antonio Lafuente & Nuria Valverde  Our age is rediscovering the importance of commons. Every day we see items in the press directly or indirectly claiming the status of commons for the air, water, the oceans, biodiversity, software and even science itself. And indeed many of the problems facing us are so huge or so complex that they cannot be dealt with on a national basis, but require commitment on a plurinational or even planet-wide scale. Such is the case with CO 2 emissions, AIDS, or Genetically Modified Organisms. Our subject, however, is not the society of risk but commons , that feature of consuetudinary law that has re- emerged from the past and is now claiming our attention. This is hardly surprising, for our world urgently needs to ex- tend common property: that is, those legal entities that are available to all and belong to no one – not even the state. But  History Institute, Spanish Council of Scientific Research.