State and Local Government Law Commons^™

Creating Better River Basin Governance: A Comment, David M. Freeman

Two Decades of Water Law and Policy Reform: A Retrospective and Agenda for the Future (Summer Conference, June 13-15)

3 pages.

Clarifying State Water Rights And Adjudications, Greg Hobbs

Two Decades of Water Law and Policy Reform: A Retrospective and Agenda for the Future (Summer Conference, June 13-15)

14 pages.

Contains footnotes.

Public Trust & Distrust: Theoretical Implications Of The Public Trust Doctrine For Natural Resource Management, Erin Ryan

Erin Ryan

This essay reviews the theoretical underpinnings of the public trust doctrine, received at common law and constitutionalized in many states, and explores its contentious reception by green legal theorists. Since Professor Joseph Sax's revival of the ancient common law doctrine as a vehicle for environmental advocacy in the early 1970s, it has been hailed by many environmentalists as the most powerful tool available for protecting natural resource commons. At the same time, however, it has been attacked by others who argue that use of the property rights-based doctrine reifies an ownership approach to natural resources and obstructs the development of …