This open access book collects 11 reimagined judgments from the UK and challenges anthropocentrism in legal decision-making across a range of legal areas.
It draws from a range of Earth law approaches including rights of nature, animal rights, environmental human rights, well-being of future generations, ecocide, and reinterpretations of existing legal principles.
There is an urgent need to transform our legal institutions and cultures to foster healthier relationships between people and planet. The book explores how relationships between people, place, and the more-than-human world are produced, transformed, and destroyed through law, the limits of current law and the potential for positive transformation. A paradigm shift towards planetary, ecological and multispecies approaches offers possibilities for envisioning what the future of legal decision-making could look like.
Beyond the judgments, the book critically reflects on the developing field of Earth law and its potential for reshaping legal reasoning in the UK and beyond. It also offers possibilities for the future of Earth law from scholarly, educational, and policy perspectives within legal practice, training and education.
The book is a must read for scholars, students, legal practitioners and activists questioning the role of law and courts as mechanisms for change.
The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com.
1. Introduction, Helen Dancer (University of Sussex, UK), Bonnie Holligan (University of Sussex, UK) and Helena Howe (University of Sussex, UK) 2. Earth Law Judging: Transforming Legal Reasoning, Helen Dancer (University of Sussex, UK), Bonnie Holligan (University of Sussex, UK) and Helena Howe (University of Sussex, UK) Part 1: Time 3. A Letter to Future Generations: Packham v Secretary of State for Transport, The Prime Minister and HS2 Limited Judgment: Helen Dancer (University of Sussex, UK) Commentator: Young Voices 4. Attorney-General and Others and Kennard and Others v Cory Brothers and Company, Limited, and Others: A View from Wales in 2023 Judgment: Karen Morrow (Swansea University, UK) Commentator: Jo Hawkins (University of Leeds, UK) Part 2: Subjectivities 5. Swale Water v Swale Water Workers for Marshes Coalition: Dangerous Work Through the Lens of Earth Law Judgment: Ania Zbyszewska (Carleton University, Canada) Commentator: Anastasia Tataryn (St Jerome’s University at the University of Waterloo, Canada) 6. Of Pests and Privilege: Re-examining R (on the application of Countryside Alliance and Others) v Attorney General Judgment: Joe Wills (University of Leicester, UK) Commentator: Chris Sangster (University of Northumbria, UK) Part 3: Care and Obligation 7. Who Let the Pigs Out? Rooting for the ‘Good Farmer’ in Savage v Fairclough Judgment: Helena Howe (University of Sussex, UK) Commentator: Johanna Gibson (Queen Mary, University of London, UK) 8. Property Rights and Environmental Regulation on the Estuary: R (on the application of Mott) v Environment Agency Judgment: Bonnie Holligan (University of Sussex, UK) Commentator: Hannah Blitzer (Wildlife and Countryside Link, UK) Notes on the Wildlaw Judgment Generator: Jo Lindsay Walton (University of Sussex, UK) Part 4: Harm and Responsibility 9. Corporations and the Duty of Care for Nature? An Amicus Curiae for the Case of Vedanta Resources PLC and Konkola Copper Mines Judgment: Saskia Vermeylen (University of Strathclyde, UK) and Jérémie Gilbert (University of Roehampton, UK) Commentator: Felicity Kayumba Kalunga (University of Zambia) 10. Ecocide in the International Criminal Court: The Prosecutor v Mr X (Reparations Order) Judgment: Rachel Killean (University of Sydney, Australia) Commentator: Damien Short (University of London, UK) Part 5: Knowledges 11. On Windfarms and Whimbrel: Sustainable Shetland v The Scottish Ministers Judgment: Sir Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw Bt KC (University of Dundee, UK) Commentator: Malcolm Combe (University of Strathclyde, UK) 12. On the Issuing of Traffic Regulation Orders in the Lake District National Park: Stubbs (on behalf of Green Lanes Environmental Action Movement) v Lake District National Park Authority and Ors Judgment: Julia Aglionby (University of Cumbria, UK) Commentator: Chris Rodgers (University of Newcastle, UK) 13. To Open Up: A Performative Rewriting of Pendragon v United Kingdom, Lucy Finchett-Maddock (Bangor University, UK) and Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos (University of Westminster, UK) 14. Afterword: Changing Legal Cultures, Helen Dancer (University of Sussex, UK), Bonnie Holligan (University of Sussex, UK) and Helena Howe (University of Sussex, UK)
Helen Dancer is Senior Lecturer in Law and Anthropology at the University of Sussex, UK. Bonnie Holligan is Senior Lecturer in Property Law at the University of Sussex, UK. Helena Howe is Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Sussex, UK.
