The theory of the tragedy of the commons is routinely referred to in international law scholarship. In short, the theory serves to show how the cumulative effects of using our shared resource domains leads them to ruin. The theory is sometimes referred to as a way of critiquing the liberal legal order upon which the system of public international law rests. Although research and scholarship subsequent to the emergence of the tragedy of the commons has shown several flaws and irregularities in the initial theory, including a potential disdain of international law by the original creator, the theory is still widely applied by scholars in international law. That being noted, the initial precept of the theory – the freedom of use – is still prevalent in our global resource domains (the global commons), and the status of those resource domains is far from satisfactory.