Law Commons^™

The Public Stakes Of Consumer Law: The Environment, The Economy, Health, Disinformation, And Beyond, Rory Van Loo

Faculty Scholarship

This Article shows how consumer law, a field “derided as the law of small problems,”⁴ is more accurately viewed as important for addressing large-scale societal threats. It also offers a more integrated conceptual and institutional approach to consumer law so that the field can have a better chance of fulfilling its societal potential.

Part I of this Article outlines the importance of consumer law. It maps consumer law’s connections to some of the most pressing societal threats: climate change, public health, inequality, and disinformation. Part II focuses on consumer law’s place in the legal academy and government. Currently, important …

Environmental Law And Construction Project Management, Michael S. Baram

Faculty Scholarship

Construction project management generally proceeds through sequential stages of project conception, planning, site acquisition, design and construction. Traditionally, citizens and public officials have relied on various elements of American common law to prevent, abate or get compensation for injuries resulting from the final construction stage of project management. Common law concepts of nuisance, negligence and trespass have been applied by the courts to situations where essentially private rights have been infringed by debris, runoff, noise, vibrations, structural damage and other byproducts of the construction process. The common law has therefore indirectly served as an environmental control on construction activities in …