Law Commons^™

Conceptualising A Role For The Common Law In Environmental Protection In Singapore, Kenny Chng

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In Singapore, the key institutions driving environmental protection are the legislature and the executive. The judiciary’s role in environmental protection has thus far been relatively minor. By drawing upon environmental law theory and comparative analysis of other common law jurisdictions, this paper aims to explore avenues through which the common law can be engaged more meaningfully to further environmental protection in Singapore. A conceptualisation of environmental law as directed at furthering the rule of law by promoting carefully-considered and participatory environmental governance will be suggested as a fruitful way forward for thinking about the role of the common law in …

The Public Trust Doctrine In The 21st Century, Nicholas A. Robinson

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In this Symposium's initial lecture, I will (a) provide a glimpse into life in Medieval England to explain the context from which Magna Carta arose, (b) describe the evolution of environmental rights from Magna Carta to the Forest Carter, (c) explore in a case study how “liberties of the forest” functioned for 800 years in England's Royal Forest of Dean, ultimately sustaining the ecological systems of Dean, (d) discuss the “liberties of the forest” in light of Elinor Ostom's common pool analyses, and (e) offer some views on the question just posed. I shall start by describing the English environment …

Animal Agriculture Liability For Climatic Nuisance: A Path Forward For Climate Change Litigation?, Daniel E. Walters

Faculty Scholarship

Despite possessing statutory authority to regulate at least some contributing causes of climate change, environmental regulators in the United States have recently found themselves tied up in political gridlock. In response, advocates are turning from the regulatory track to a common law liability track, bringing public nuisance suits against fossil fuel producers and electric utilities. However, most of these public nuisance suits have met a common fate: they have been held to be displaced by the comprehensive regulatory framework for controlling greenhouse gas emissions contained in the Clean Air Act. As long as there is even the possibility of regulatory …

Fracking The Public Trust, Kevin J. Lynch

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

Climate change presents an ever more urgent threat, and earlier in 2019, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels reached an all time high for recorded history. Current federal and state policies promoting fossil fuel extraction mean that future governments will have to look very seriously at leaving fossil fuels in the ground, if our society wants to have any hope of avoiding catastrophic climate change.

One of the biggest obstacles to leaving fossil fuels in the ground is the threat of massive takings liability for any government that dares to slow or prevent the extraction of fossil fuels. This has been particularly …

Riparian Rights And Public Trust: Enforcement Authority, Reeana Keenen

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

In Virginia, private landowners own the land to the Mean Low Water mark (“MLW”), whereas in many coastal states private landowners only own to the high water mark. The bottomlands channelward of the MLW mark in Virginia are governed by the Public Trust Doctrine, meaning that the state holds this land in trust for use by the public. However, use conflicts can arise where private landowners own property adjacent to publicly owned property or where public easements run through private property adjacent to public beach access points.

This Paper will provide a summary of the law regarding private and public …

Natural Resources And Natural Law Part I: Prior Appropriation, Robert W. Adler

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

In recent years there has been a resurgence of civil disobedience over public land policy in the West, sometimes characterized by armed confrontations between ranchers and federal officials. This trend reflects renewed assertions that applicable positive law violates the natural rights (sometimes of purportedly divine origin) of ranchers and other land users, particularly under the prior appropriation doctrine and grounded in Lockean theories of property. At the same time, Native Americans and environmental activists on the opposite side of the political-environmental spectrum have also relied on civil disobedience to assert natural rights to a healthy environment, based on public trust …

Property And Permitting Boundaries At The Shoreline (Legal Fact Sheet: Ctsg-17-03), Audrey Elzerman

Sea Grant Law Fellow Publications

The determination of the boundary between public and private areas of the shoreline can be a topic of substantial interest and dispute, especially as the environment changes over time. This document explains the property and regulatory boundaries that apply in Connecticut and how those boundaries change.

How The Public Trust Doctrine's Fiduciary Duty Requirement Requires States' Proactive Response To Promote Offshore Power Generation, Andrew S. Ballentine

Student Works

As the earth continues to warm and the impacts of that warming trend loom larger, the question becomes whether and to what degree do governments have responsibility to respond to that threat. The potential range of threats and impacts from climate change vary greatly and governments’ ability to respond, effectively and efficiently, exceeds that of the individual and therefore must fall on the greater collection of individuals. In the United States, one way that the collection of individuals is represented, albeit with limitations, is by the government that operates for the collective public good. This Article focuses on what responsibility …

Climate Litigation Scores Successes In The Netherlands And Pakistan, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

Most U.S. climate change litigation falls into one of two categories. The vast majority of cases — which receive the bulk of the attention — are based on the Clean Air Act and other statutes. These include Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency (2007) and the current litigation over the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan. The second category, and the focus of this article, comprises cases based on common law and the Constitution.

Slides: Practicing Sustainability In Natural Resource Industries, Gary D. Libecap

Natural Resource Industries and the Sustainability Challenge (Martz Winter Symposium, February 27-28)

Presenter: Gary D. Libecap, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management and Economics Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

10 slides

The Public Trust Doctrine, Private Water Allocation, And Mono Lake: The Historic Saga Of National Audubon Society V. Superior Court, Erin Ryan

Scholarly Publications

This Article tells the epic tale of the fall and rise of Mono Lake—the strange and beautiful Dead Sea of California—which fostered some of the most important environmental law developments of the last century, and which has become a platform for some of the most potentially important developments in the new century. It shares the backstory and legacy of the California Supreme Court’s famous decision in National Audubon Society v. Superior Court, 658 P.2d 709 (Cal. 1983), known more widely as “the Mono Lake case.” Inspired by innovative legal scholarship and advocacy, the decision spawned a quiet legal revolution in …

The Public Trust: The Law's Dna, Gerald Torres, Nathan Bellinger

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Burdens On Public Access, Elizabeth Blank

Sea Grant Law Fellow Publications

No abstract provided.

The Public Trust Doctrine And The Montana Constitution As Legal Bases For Climate Change Litigation In Montana, Gregory S. Munro

Faculty Law Review Articles

This article examines the need to resort to law and the legal process to address the risk posed by climate change to Montana and its people.

Part II provides a brief overview of global warming. Part III demonstrates how civil litigation can and should provide a meaningful role in addressing climate change. Part IV traces the origin of the public trust doctrine and how the U.S. Supreme Court and Montana Supreme Court have applied the doctrine in the past. Part V argues that principles underlying the public trust doctrine make it appropriate for the Montana courts to expand the doctrine …

A Trusting Public: How The Public Trust Doctrine Can Save The New York Forest Preserve, Katherine R. Leisch

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Student Publications

The public trust doctrine was instituted in England as a permanent limitation on the powers of the Crown. The well-established doctrine was brought to America and applied equally in the states even after the states seceded from England. The doctrine has since served as an indestructible check on the government. Article XIV of the New York State Constitution ensures protection of its wilderness in perpetuity, solidifying the forest preserve as part of the public trust. The paper traces the beginnings of the public trust doctrine and its eventual application Article XIV. The author contemplates the indestructibility of the Forest Preserve …

Instream Flows And The Public Trust, Timothy M. Mulvaney

Faculty Scholarship

Empirical evidence suggests that diversion of instream flows for human use, coupled with the potential impacts of changing climatic conditions, is threatening the sustainability of aquatic life. Nonetheless, several states merely prevent stream flows from being reduced below the "7Q10 flow," or the average flow during the driest consecutive seven-day period that has a likelihood of recurring only once every ten years. Overwhelming scientific consensus suggests that 7Q10 merely preserves water quality standards by calculating the concentration of pollutants in point source discharges, without considering water quantity and numerous other core principles of instream management.

The protection of instream flows …

Slides: Rethinking Western Water Law: Restoring The Public Interest In Western Water Law, Mark Squillace

Western Water Law, Policy and Management: Ripples, Currents, and New Channels for Inquiry (Martz Summer Conference, June 3-5)

Presenter: Mark Squillace, Director, Natural Resources Law Center, University of Colorado Law School

20 slides

Bridging The Governance Gap: Strategies To Integrate Water And Land Use Planning, Sarah Bates Van De Wetering, University Of Montana (Missoula). Public Policy Research Institute

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

16 pages.

Includes bibliographical references

"2007"

"Collaborative Governance Report 2"

Some Preliminary Thoughts On Contrasts And Convergence In Environmental And Natural Resources Law, Karin P. Sheldon

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

16 pages.

Includes bibliographical references

Law Casebook Description And Table Of Contents: Constitutional Environmental And Natural Resources Law [Outline], Jim May, Robin Craig

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

6 pages.

"James May, Widener University School of Law" -- Agenda

Grotius, Ocean Fish Ranching, And The Public Trust Doctrine: Ride 'Em Charlie Tuna, Hope M. Babcock

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Seventy percent of the world's fish populations are in serious decline; some have been fished to near extinction. While domestic and international efforts are underway to curb the rate at which the remaining fish are being depleted, the demand for fish appears to be outstripping these initiatives--before they can take hold, the fish may be gone. In response to this increasingly dire situation, many countries, including the United States, have turned to fish farming in hope of taking pressure off of certain wild stocks of fish while still meeting consumer demands for them. More recently, non-U.S. fish farmers have moved …

Pre-Conference Statement For The Session On “Integrating Environmental, Cultural And Other Values In Water Law And Policy”, David H. Getches, Sarah B. Van De Wetering

Allocating and Managing Water for a Sustainable Future: Lessons from Around the World (Summer Conference, June 11-14)

39 pages.

Contains references (pages 36-39).

The Roman Public Trust Doctrine--What Was It, And Does It Support An Atmospheric Trust?, J. B. Ruhl, Thomas A.J. Mcginn

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Through building waves of legal scholarship and litigation, a group of legal academics and practitioners is advancing a theory of the public trust doctrine styled as the "atmospheric trust." The atmospheric trust would require the federal and state governments to regulate public and private actors to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to abate climate change. The traditional common law version of the American public trust doctrine requires that states owning title to lands submerged under navigable waters manage them in trust for the public to use for navigation, fishing, and commerce and that the states not alienate such resources to the …

Protecting Instream Flows In Prior Appropriation States: Legal And Policy Issues, Janet C. Neuman

Water and Growth in the West (Summer Conference, June 7-9)

17 pages.

Should Lucas V. South Carolina Coastal Council Protect Where The Wild Things Are? Of Beavers, Bob-O-Links, And Other Things That Go Bump In The Night, Hope M. Babcock

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council is one of several recent Supreme Court decisions in which the Court used the Just Compensation Clause as a "weapon of reaction" to strike down an offending land use restriction. In Lucas, the target of the Court's animus was a state law prohibiting a landowner from developing two beachfront lots. The South Carolina Supreme Court upheld the law as a legitimate exercise of the State's police power to protect the public from harm in the face of a takings challenge by the landowner. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the South Carolina court's talismatic …

Has The U.S. Supreme Court Finally Drained The Swamp Of Takings Jurisprudence? The Impact Of Lucas V. South Carolina Coastal Council On Wetlands And Coastal Barrier Beaches, Hope M. Babcock

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article argues that the Court's reliance on the law of property neither creates an internal inconsistency in takings law nor necessarily leads to further destruction of natural resources. Background principles of property law, such as custom and public trust, have long provided a basis for government protection of the public's interest in certain types of land, like the barrier beach David Lucas sought to develop.

Thus, the Lucas case need not be perceived as casting a constitutional cloud over laws protecting important ecosystems like wetlands and barrier beaches. The decision may not place these resources in greater danger from …

Constitutional And Congressional Requirements Directing Public Lands Decisionmaking, Joseph M. Feller

Who Governs the Public Lands: Washington? The West? The Community? (September 28-30)

15 pages.

Contains references.

Regulation Of Water Use And Takings—The Government Lawyer’S Perspective, Richard M. Frank

Regulatory Takings and Resources: What Are the Constitutional Limits? (Summer Conference, June 13-15)

11 pages.

Contains 3 pages of references.

The Use Of The Public Trust Doctrine As A Management Tool Over Public And Private Lands, Patricia E. Salkin

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Dam Fights And Water Policy In California: 1969-1989, Harrison C. Dunning

Innovation in Western Water Law and Management (Summer Conference, June 5-7)

49 pages (includes illustrations and maps).

Contains references.