Law Commons^™

A Short History Of The Public Trust Doctrine And Its Intersection With Private Water Law, Erin Ryan

Scholarly Publications

This article explores the development of public trust principles from early Roman and British law through modern U.S. law as a public commons approach to natural resource management, especially with regard to waterways. It then analyzes the tension between the common pool approach underlying the public trust regulation of waterways and the contrasting theoretical premises of American laws that regulate private use of the water within them—especially the privatization model embedded in the doctrine of prior appropriations, which assigns perpetual rights to withdraw from the watercourse on a first-in-time basis. The public trust doctrine, the protagonist of much modern environmental …

You Don’T Need Lungs To Suffer: Fish Suffering In The Age Of Climate Change With A Call For Regulatory Reform, David N. Cassuto, Amy O'Brien

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Fish are sentient — they feel pain and suffer. Yet, while we see increasing interest in protecting birds and mammals in industries such as farming and research (albeit few laws), no such attention has been paid to the suffering of fish in the fishing industry. Consideration of fish welfare including reducing needless suffering should be a component of fisheries management. This article focuses on fisheries management practices, the effects of anthropogenic climate change on fisheries management practices, and the moral implications of fish sentience on the development and amendment of global fishing practices. Part I examines domestic and international fisheries, …

Juliana V. United States: Debating The Fundamentals Of The Fundamental Right To A Sustainable Climate, Erin Ryan

Scholarly Publications

This article, based on a live discussion among a panel of national experts, dissects the landmark federal climate lawsuit, Juliana v. United States, 217 F. Supp. 3d 1224 (D. Or. 2016). Juliana is the flagship case in a series of legal actions brought by youth plaintiffs challenging government failures to regulate to prevent climate change. However, few have come as far as Juliana, which has so far survived motions to dismiss from both the government and fossil fuels industry, a motion for interlocutory appeal to the Ninth Circuit to dismiss the case, and even a rare petition for writ of …

Juliana V. United States: Debating The Fundamentals Of The Fundamental Right To A Sustainable Climate, Erin Ryan, Mary Wood, Jim Huffman, Irma S. Russell, Richard Frank

Faculty Works

This article, based on a live discussion among a panel of national experts, dissects the landmark federal climate lawsuit, Juliana v. United States, 217 F. Supp. 3d 1224 (D. Or. 2016). Juliana is the flagship case in a series of legal actions brought by youth plaintiffs challenging government failures to regulate to prevent climate change. However, few have come as far as Juliana, which has so far survived motions to dismiss from both the government and fossil fuels industry, a motion for interlocutory appeal to the Ninth Circuit to dismiss the case, and even a rare petition for writ of …

Water Is A Girl’S Best Friend: Examining The Water Valuation Dilemma, Amy Hardberger

Faculty Articles

Water allocation is currently controlled by policy that assigns a property right and hopes to protect the resource and its users. Markets can help fill this void and increase efficiency by assigning an accurate value to the good and dictating how the water is transferred and used.

Unfortunately, current markets lack the ability to send an accurate price signal that reflects the true value of water, leading to unintended consequences that could rapidly deplete resources rather than protect them. For the market to be accurate in pricing water, all costs must be included, allowing consumers to make an informed decision. …

Coastal Preservation And Transferred Development Rights, Kate Kramer

Sea Grant Law Fellow Publications

No abstract provided.

Application Of The Public Trust Doctrine To Modern Fishery Management Regimes, Kevin J. Lynch

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

As the state of the nation’s fisheries has declined in recent decades, fishery managers have increasingly sought more effective means for managing fishing efforts to prevent overfishing. The situation is particularly dire in marine fisheries, where studies have shown that populations of large predatory fish species such as tuna, marlin, and swordfish have declined by up to 90%. Conventional explanations for this and other declines in fish populations invoke the concepts of the “tragedy of the commons” and the “race to the fish.” The tools favored by economists to solve these problems typically involve creating some form of limited private …

Palazzolo, The Public Trust, And The Property Owner's Reasonable Expectations: Takings And The South Carolina Marsh Island Bridge Debate, Erin Ryan

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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

Faculty Publications

This Comment reviews the theoretical underpinnings of the public trust, a doctrine originating in Roman common law and now constitutionalized by many states, and explores its contentious reception by green legal theorists. Since Professor Joseph Sax's revival of the doctrine as a vehicle for environmental legal advocacy in the early 1970s, it has been haJled by many. as the most powerful tool available for protecting natural resource commons and attacked by others who argue that use of the property rights-based doctrine will reify an ownership approach to natural resources and obstruct the development of more stewardship-oriented legal theories of natural …

Instream Flows, The Public Trust, And The Future Of The West, Harrison C. Dunning

Instream Flow Protection in the Western United States: A Practical Symposium (March 31-April 1)

65 pages (includes illustrations).

Contains 28 pages of footnotes.

Agenda: Instream Flow Protection In The Western United States: A Practical Symposium, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Instream Flow Protection in the Western United States: A Practical Symposium (March 31-April 1)

Conference speakers included University of Colorado School of Law professors Lawrence J. MacDonnell and Charles F. Wilkinson.

Virtually all western states now provide some kind of legal recognition for instream flows. On March 31-April 1, the Natural Resources Law Center will present a symposium on the different approaches taken in these states, with emphasis on such major issues as the purposes for instream flows, the quantities of water needed for these purposes, enforcement of instream flow rights, federal instream flow claims, private instream flow claims, and transferring consumptive water rights to instream flow rights. Speakers include representatives from state agencies …