The Madras High Court has invoked the "parens patriae jurisdiction" to declare Mother Nature as a Living Being with all corresponding rights, duties and liabilities of a living person, in order to preserve and conserve them.

Beyond use value and exchange value, commodities encapsulate semiotic values too. They function as markers of status, domesticity, social discipline, rebelliousness and so on. These functions are contextual, contingent and change over time.