Unit 8: Law and The Environment

Question 1

Constitutional law

Answer 1

The law as defined in the constitution.

Question 2

Statute law

Answer 2

Established by elected officials as statutes (federal and provincial) or bylaws (municipal). Further operationalized through regulations (established by bureaucrats).

Question 3

Common/Case law

Answer 3

Law established through prior legal decisions (precedent) in courts of law. When established, statute law generally overrides common law.

Question 4

Types of environmental law cases (3)

Answer 4

1. Court cases that suggest that what someone is doing is not in line with the Constitution
2. Court cases to interpret statutory laws
3. Court cases based upon torts rooted in common law or statute law.

Question 4

Constitutional Institutions

Answer 4

Identify how we make such rules and who can do so. The “rules about making rules.”

Question 5

Canadian Constitution

Answer 5

Outlines the rights to develop and enforce rules (formal institutions) in Canada

Question 6

Canadian constitution acts (2)

Answer 6

1. Constitution Act of 1867
2. Constitution Act of 1982, Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Question 7

Federal Jurisdiction (8)

Answer 7

1. Taxation
2. Trade and commerce
3. Navigation and fisheries
4. Responsibility and lands reservation for Indigenous
5. Criminal law
6. Protecting public health
7. Protecting the Peace, Order, and Good Governance of Canada
8. Coinage, weights and measures, copyrights, etc…

Question 8

Provincial Jurisdictions (7)

Answer 8

1. Taxation
2. Management and sale of provincial lands
3. Municipalities
4. Local works
5. Property rights
6. Non-renewable resources and forestry
7. Energy production

Question 9

Municipal Jurisdiction (5)

Answer 9

1. Provincial Creation
2. By-laws as permitted by provincial law
3. Application and monitoring of federal and provincial laws
4. Planning and police departments, By-law officers, inspectors, etc…
5. Environmental management

Question 10

Legislation (Statute)

Answer 10

Law or bylaw passed by an elected legislative body (Parliament, Legislature, etc…) that outlines goals, powers, and responsibilities.

Question 11

Regulations

Answer 11

Rules created by an administrative agency (bureaucrats) that details the specifics of how the statutes are to be applied. Sets out what is permitted, what is prohibited, and what is required within a jurisdiction.

Question 12

Types of statute court cases (2)

Answer 12

1. Legal cases about interpretations of statutes/regulations in particular cases.
2. Tort cases, where someone sues someone else for a harm that has been/will be caused.

Question 13

Aldred’s Case

Answer 13

In 1610, William Aldred claimed that Thomas Benton had erected a pig sty too close to his house and the stench made his own house unbearable to live in.
It was decided that a man has, “no right to maintain a structure upon his own land, which renders the occupancy of adjoining property dangerous, intolerable, or even uncomfortable to its tenants…”
This is the first tort case.

Question 14

Tort Law

Answer 14

A tort is a ‘wrong’ perpetuated against someone or their property. Tort Law is when someone sues someone else for a harm that has been/will be caused. It exists to avoid conflict and to ‘uphold rights.’ The ‘rights’ are determined from constitutional, common, statute law, and contracts.

Question 15

Principles of Tort law (3)

Answer 15

1. We are free to act as we see fit unless our actions interfere with another person’s property, with their established rights, or harm their health.
2. It is up to the plaintiff to prove harm
3. An impartial judge will hear the case and render a binding decision based upon the balance of the evidence

Question 16

Tort Law environmental impacts (4)

Answer 16

1. Deterrence Effect: Fear of being sued motivates against environmental degradation
2. Flexible: Can address multiple situations & adapts to environmental ethics.
3. Instrument to Protect the Natural Environment through preventive Injunctions
4. ‘Internalizing the externalities’ by compensating those harmed and adding cost to those causing harm.

Question 17

Tort law environmental limitations

Answer 17

1. Depends upon defined Property Rights
2. Anthropocentric: “Should Trees or corporations have standing?”
3. Highly influenced by power relations due to the burden placed upon the plaintiff and the defendants to prove the case
4. Cannot address harm to future generations (not sustainable development)