Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of GraphSearch.
Concept
Environmental law
Summary
Environmental laws are laws that protect the environment. Environmental law is the collection of laws, regulations, agreements and common law that governs how humans interact with their environment. This includes environmental regulations; laws governing management of natural resources, such as forests, minerals, or fisheries; and related topics such as environmental impact assessments.Environmental law is seen as the body of laws concerned with the protection of living things (human beings inclusive) from the harm that human activity may immediately or eventually cause to them or their species, either directly or to the media and the habits on which they depend.
in the environment and environmental sciences#Environmental policy
Early examples of laws designed to preserve the environment for its own sake or for human enjoyment are found throughout history. In the common law, the primary protection was found in the law of nuisance, but this only allowed for private actions for damages or injunctions if there was harm to land. Thus, smells emanating from pigsties, strict liability against dumping rubbish, or damage from exploding dams. Private enforcement, however, was limited and found to be woefully inadequate to deal with major environmental threats, particularly threats to common resources. During the "Great Stink" of 1858, the dumping of sewerage into the River Thames began to smell so ghastly in the summer heat that Parliament had to be evacuated. Ironically, the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers Act 1848 had allowed the Metropolitan Commission for Sewers to close cesspits around the city in an attempt to "clean up" but this simply led people to pollute the river. In 19 days, Parliament passed a further Act to build the London sewerage system. London also suffered from terrible air pollution, and this culminated in the "Great Smog" of 1952, which in turn triggered its own legislative response: the Clean Air Act 1956. The basic regulatory structure was to set limits on emissions for households and businesses (particularly burning of coal) while an inspectorate would enforce compliance.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Related publications (9)
Optimisation du système d’assainissement des eaux urbaines Réseau-STEP-Milieu récepteur par une approche de gestion intégrée
Water management is a recurring problem that has occupied mankind for years. Nowadays, the multiple stakeholders involved in this management have the willingness to cooperate to make it more integrate
2016Proposal of a Closed Loop Framework for the Improvement of Industrial Systems' Life Cycle Performances: Experiences from the LinkedDesign Project
The context where European manufacturers of industrial systems operate has dramatically changed over recent years: the pressure of emerging countries they have to face, policy makers' environmental la
Elsevier Science Bv2015Related people (1)
Related concepts (36)
Environmental law
Environmental laws are laws that protect the environment. Environmental law is the collection of laws, regulations, agreements and common law that governs how humans interact with their environment. This includes environmental regulations; laws governing management of natural resources, such as forests, minerals, or fisheries; and related topics such as environmental impact assessments.
Air pollution
Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. It is also the contamination of indoor or outdoor surrounding either by chemical activities, physical or biological agents that alters the natural features of the atmosphere. There are many different types of air pollutants, such as gases (including ammonia, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxides, methane and chlorofluorocarbons), particulates (both organic and inorganic), and biological molecules.
Human impact on the environment
Human impact on the environment (or anthropogenic environmental impact) refers to changes to biophysical environments and to ecosystems, biodiversity, and natural resources caused directly or indirectly by humans. Modifying the environment to fit the needs of society (as in the built environment) is causing severe effects including global warming, environmental degradation (such as ocean acidification), mass extinction and biodiversity loss, ecological crisis, and ecological collapse.
Related courses (48)
ENV-367: Environmental and construction law
Ce cours donne aux étudiant-e-s les connaissances de base nécessaires pour comprendre les dimensions juridiques de leur activité professionnelle concernant l'aménagement du territoire et la protection
MGT-536: Legal aspect of sustainability & digitalisation
This course will provide students with a basic knowledge of law. After an introduction to the law, aspects of tax law, environmental law, contract law, data protection or IP law will be offered, as we
MGT-531: Legal aspect of sustainability & digitalisation II
An introduction to intellectual property will be given. Students will be made aware of the legal issues related to digitalisation and environmental law will be presented.
Related MOOCs (1)
Analyse du cycle de vie environmental
MOOC introduction à la pensée du cycle de vie et aux concepts théoriques pour réaliser et critiquer une analyse du cycle de vie.