Each year, the number of serious accidents with devastating consequences for
the environment continues to grow. Legal issues arising from such incidents
highlight the impact of environmental damage not only on people and places,
but on the interests of those held responsible. Moreover, it is now a truism
to assert that pollution does not respect national frontiers – a perspective
that greatly complicates matters of standing and jurisdiction. In this context
the law of tort, whether it occurs through case law developments or
legislative intervention, comes to the fore.
In the decade since the appearance of the first edition of this seminal work,
the author has discerned indications that the debate on the role of tort in
environmental law has moved on from the pros and cons of specific proposals to
a more systemic approach. As litigants continue to test tort-based principles,
some in hitherto uncharted waters such as climate change, the prospect of
establishing tort as a component in a system of environmental protection has
come to the fore. In this thoroughly revised and updated edition, the author
has sharpened his focus on such aspects of this emerging system as the
following:
-
climate change litigation;
-
implications of especially significant cases such as Deepwater Horizon, Niger
Delta litigation, and Fukushima.
Through a detailed analysis of the fundamental nature of tort and the wider
arguments concern-ing its proper function in modern society, this book offers
compelling conclusions regarding how tort can play a part in developing a
public trust doctrine in environmental law. No one with an interest in the
development of environmental law can afford to ignore it.
Part I. Introductory Issues. 1. The Law of Tort and the
Environment: An Introduction to the Debate and Foundational Issues.
Part
II. Traditional Tort-based Remedies and Environmental Protection: A Common Law
Perspective.
2. Conventional Tort-based Approaches to Environmental
Harm.
3. Establishing Liability for Environmental Damage: Main Issues.
Part III. The Role of Tort as a Means of Environmental Protection: Theoretical
Perspectives and Legislative Initiatives. 4. The Role of Tort in an
Environmental Context.
5. The European and International Dimension.
Part IV. Increasing the Role of Tort as a Means of Environmental Protection: A
Comparative Analysis of Substantive Rules in Certain EU States and their
Common Law Counterparts. 6. Strict Liability.
7. Reducing
the Burden of Proof on Causation.
8. Access to Justice I: Liberal
Conferral of Standing.
9. Access to Justice II: Class or Group Actions.
10. Remedies for Environmental Damage.
11. Financial Provision for
Extended Civil Liability.
Part V. Conclusions.
12. Conclusion:
The Nature of Tort-based Liability in an Environmental Context.
