Environmental Law
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Transcript Environmental Law
Environmental Law
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INTRODUCTION TO THE SOURCES OF
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
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A collection of rules
In response to environmental problems
Coherent, sophisticated regime
Remedial rules; cleaning pollution after the event;
ensuring polluter pays / sanctions; compensation
Preventive rules; aim to stop pollution before it
occurs; eg emission limits; curtailing industrial
activities and uses of land; advance grant of licences;
environmental assessment/ public enquiry
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Sources
Common Law
Law of Torts
Primary function to protect private rights
Negligence
Nuisance
Rule in Rylands v Fletcher
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Limits to the Common Law in Environmental
Protection
Cambridge Water Co Ltd v Eastern Counties
Leather plc [1994] 1ALL ER 53
Lord Goff
Need for property interest
Courts restrictive of extension of liability for
environmental harm
Development of the law for Parliament
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Cambridge Water - Lord Goff: ‘... given that so much
well-informed and carefully structured legislation is
now being put in place for this purpose, there is less
need for the courts to develop a common law principle
to achieve the same end, and indeed it may well be
undesirable that they should do so.’
Parliament – structured; Courts – ad hoc
Parliament – democratic legitimacy
Allocating responsibility for environmental harm
‘As a general rule, it is more appropriate for strict
liability in respect of operations of high risk to be
imposed by Parliament not the courts’
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Criminal Law; remedial control; punish the polluter
Statutory regime; Enforcement
Society’s moral condemnation of environmentally
harmful activities
Adminstrative Law
Framework legislation
Secretary of State
Environment Agency
Judicial review
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Legislation
Statutes:
Environmental Protection Act 1990
Parts II (Waste); IIA (Contaminated Land); III
(Statutory Nuisance)
Water Resources Act 1991
The Environment Act 1995
Climate Change Act 2008
Framework Legislation
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Statutes – general broad principles
Delegated legislation – rules in order to implement
Statutory instruments
Contaminated Land (England) Regulations 2006
Environmental Permitting (England and Wales)
Regulations 2010
Government guidelines
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European Union Law
Substantive EU environmental laws:
Water Quality – drinking and bathing water
Air Quality
Waste Management
Noise
Chemicals
Nature
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European Union environmental law
Horizontal Instruments
Procedural;
Methods by which environmental protection achieved
Environmental Impact Assessment
Access to Environmental Information
Eco-Label
Ec0-Audit Management System
Environmental Liability
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International Law
Sustainable Development: Report of the World
Commission on Environment and Development 1987
The Brundtland Report ‘Development that meets the
needs of the present without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own needs.’
Climate Change; Ozone Layer; Biodiversity;
Transboundary Air Pollution
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Human Rights
European Convention for the protection of Human
Rights and Fundamental Freedoms 1950
Human Rights Act 1998
Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union
No Right to a Clean Environment
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Increasingly becoming more proactive
New Techniques and Instruments
Education and Information
Economic Instruments
Voluntary Agreements
Emissions Trading Schemes