The Right of Nonuse

by Laitos, Jan G.

• ISBN13: 9780195386066
• ISBN10: 019538606X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-05-29
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The Right of Nonuseprovides a fresh and remarkably different perspective on the real causes of the ills plaguing the world's resources and environment. It re-examines the very nature of nature, and from this new perspective, argues that what is needed is for humans to grant to natural resources a legal right to be left alone -aright of nonuse.In the process, it explores the following questions: Why do natural resources continue to be depleted and removed at an alarming rate? Why are species becoming extinct at a pace that may be unprecedented? Why does the environment continue to be polluted? Why do the weather and climate seem to be changing? Perhaps most important, why have laws, legal institutions and governments been unable to address and correct these problems? Jan Laitos reviews the history of our relationship with the natural environment and develops new ways of thinking about nature and its protection. Instead of proceeding with human-based goals, Laitos argues that we should protect environmental resources for their own intrinsic value. Instead of giving humans more and more rights to clean up the environment, and to halt resources depletion, a right of nonuse held by the resource itself should be created. Natural resources have always possessed this parallel nonuse function, and society should recognize and legitimize it.

Author Biography

Jan G. Laitos is the John A. Carver, Jr. Chair in Natural Resources and Environmental Law at the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law. Previously, he was the law clerk to the Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court, and worked in the Office of Legal Counsel for the United States Department of Justice. Jan Laitos served as Vice Chair and Commissioner on the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission, and is a trustee of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation. Professor Laitos is the author of the authoritative treatise in the property rights field entitled: Law of Property Rights (1999). He is also the author of The Law of Hazardous Waste and Toxic Substances, 2nd ed. (2008) and Pioneers in Environmental Law (2008).

Table of Contents

Introduction
The Nature of Nature	p. 3
A Social - Economic History of Resource Use and Nonuse
Defining Natural Resource Use and Nonuse	p. 9
Era I-The Age of Human Survival	p. 17
Era II-The Age of the Market	p. 20
Era III-The Age of Property	p. 35
Era IV-The Anthrocene Age	p. 48
Era V-The Age of Ecocentrism	p. 63
A Legal History of Resource Use and Nonuse
An Introduction to the History of Law and Natural Resources	p. 77
First-Generation Laws: Creating Use Interests in Natural Resources	p. 85
Second-Generation Laws: Protecting Human Nonuse Interests	p. 94
Proposed Second-Generation Laws: Protecting Human Nonuse Interests by Acknowledging the Public Interest in Natural Resources	p. 113
Toward a Third Generation of Nonanthropocentric Resource Nonuse Laws	p. 118
Revealing the Nonuse Component of Natural Resources
The Biology of Resource Nonuse	p. 133
The Science of Resource Nonuse	p. 148
The Economics of Resource Nonuse	p. 163
Toward a Legally Acknowledged Right of Nonuse
The Problem of Government Regulation: The Emerging Shift from Anthropocentric to Ecocentric Nonuse Laws	p. 185
The Problem of Rights Creation: Can Natural Resources Have Legal Rights?	p. 201
The Problem of Standing: May Natural Resources Raise Their Own Right of Nonuse?	p. 213
Table of Cases	p. 229
Index	p. 235
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