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Protection Of Biodiversity Under The Public Trust Doctrine, Ralph W. Johnson, William C. Galloway

Articles

The public trust doctrine is an ancient Roman legal doctrine that has been applied in both England and the Umted States. The doctrine traditionally addressed questions of public access to and use of commercially navigable waters for navigation, fisheries and various other uses of the underlying seabeds, lake bottoms, and riverbeds. In recent years, the public trust doctrine has been invoked to protect birds and other wildlife, water quality, ecological and environmental values, and different types of recreation. Although no public trust case has applied the doctrine to protect biodiversity per se, it seems clear by analogy to existing case …