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University of Washington School of Law

Public trust doctrine

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Full-Text Articles in Environmental Law

Putting The Public Back In The Public Trust Doctrine: A Reinterpretation To Advance Native Hawaiian Water Rights, Steven Hindman Dec 2023

Putting The Public Back In The Public Trust Doctrine: A Reinterpretation To Advance Native Hawaiian Water Rights, Steven Hindman

Washington Law Review

The public trust doctrine guarantees that the government will hold natural resources in trust and protect them for the common good. The doctrine has played a key role in the allocation of water rights, particularly for Native American and Native Hawaiian interests in the United States. State and federal courts often consider the doctrine when deciding if certain use rights should be granted. In Hawai‘i, the doctrine has taken on a particularly robust form because the State Constitution expressly provides that all public natural resources are to be held in trust for the benefit of all Hawaiians. Unfortunately, the doctrine’s …


The Public Trust Doctrine And Coastal Zone Management In Washington State, Ralph W. Johnson, Craighton Goeppele, David Jansen, Rachael Paschal Jul 1992

The Public Trust Doctrine And Coastal Zone Management In Washington State, Ralph W. Johnson, Craighton Goeppele, David Jansen, Rachael Paschal

Washington Law Review

The public trust doctrine is an ancient doctrine that has recently emerged as a powerful tool to protect the public interest in tidelands and shorelands. Created and developed by the judiciary, the doctrine's principles have found their way into several of Washington's regulatory statutes, such as the Shoreline Management Act and the Aquatic Lands Act. This Article traces the development of the doctrine in Washington, and explains the relation between the state's police power and the public trust doctrine. This Article also sets forth the current contours of the public trust doctrine in Washington, and charts potential future developments of …


Protection Of Biodiversity Under The Public Trust Doctrine, Ralph W. Johnson, William C. Galloway Nov 1984

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 …