Category Archives: Land use and Environment
Rebeca Ferrero Guillén, ‘From enemies to allies: 3D printing, IP and sustainability’
Since the invention of additive manufacturing (AM) – better known as 3D printing (3DP) – there have been important technology developments in this sector. 3DP started as an industrial technology focused on big manufacturing. However, it has become one of the fundamental technologies brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This technology has spread and […]
Maximillian Scott Matiauda, ‘Rising Tide: The Second Wave of Climate Torts’
ABSTRACT Fossil fuels and tobacco products share startling similarities. Both enjoy ubiquity, enable their users to keep pace with the ever-increasing demands of civilization, and choke the life out of those who partake and those who merely look on. The comparison extends to legal battles against their respective industries, as evidenced by a new wave […]
David Takacs, ‘Standing for Rivers, Mountains – and Trees – in the Anthropocene’
ABSTRACT In his well-known article, ‘Should Trees Have Standing? – Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects’, Professor Christopher Stone proposed that courts grant nonhuman entities standing as plaintiffs so their interests may directly represented in court. In this Article, I review Stone’s ideas about standing and our relationship with the natural environment and describe the […]
‘Granting legal “personhood” to nature is a growing movement – can it stem biodiversity loss?’
Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on giving legal rights to nature. Many Indigenous peoples have long emphasised the intrinsic value of nature … (more) [Viktoria Kahui, The Conversation, 25 April 2024]
Lucas Clover Alcolea, ‘Contractual Licences Over Land and the Disappearing Divide between Property and Obligation’
ABSTRACT The law surrounding contractual licences over land has long been the subject of controversy, particularly since Lord Denning’s attempts to convert them into fully proprietary rights. This paper divides the law concerning such licences into three eras, orthodoxy, Denning, and a ‘return to orthodoxy?’ before analysing each in turn. Subsequently, it outlines how despite […]
Middleton and others, ‘The Role of Private Lands in Conserving Yellowstone’s Wildlife in the 21st Century’
ABSTRACT This article brings together insights from several fields, including environmental history, ecology, economics, human geography, and law, to identify the necessary conditions for a successful expansion of private-lands conservation in the GYE. First, Part II establishes important context by exploring how land was originally privatized in the GYE, who owns this land today, and […]
Rodrigo Pablo Pérez, ‘Water Jurisprudence, Property Rights and Catholic Thought’
ABSTRACT This chapter contributes to the study and development of a water law jurisprudence based on Christian principles. It proposes that Catholic social thought can ground a workable system of water law that harmonises property rights in water with the human right to water, other beings’ access to water, and water protection. This thesis is […]
‘“Newcomer” injunctions and the UK Supreme Court’
The recent UK Supreme Court (ÚKSC) judgment in Wolverhampton City Council v London Gypsies explores the courts’ ability to grant ‘newcomer’ injunctions and the conditions to be satisfied before they can be granted. The case concerned applications for injunctions by local authorities to prevent unauthorized encampments by Gypsies and Travellers. The local authorities relied on […]
Vidir Petersen, ‘Climate Change and the Social Function of Property – A Human Flourishing Reading of Article 1 of Protocol No 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights’
ABSTRACT There is tension between private property and climate change action. A lot of the planet’s land area is privately owned, but at the same time drastic measures are needed in the battle against climate change. This begs the question how far States can go in regulating climate change, without triggering the compensation requirement under […]
‘Case Preview: Davies v Bridgend County Borough Council’
In this post, Sarah Coates-Madden, Senior Associate at CMS, and Fiona Dalling, Associate at CMS, preview the decision awaited from the Supreme Court in Davies v Bridgend County Borough Council. 9 August 1850 saw the arrival at Kew Gardens of a set of 40 new plants from Leiden, Germany. Among them, a discovery from a […]