The Public Trust Doctrine and Public Access to an Allegedly Private Navigable Lake: A Law Professors' Amicus Brief

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael C. Blumm
Keyword(s):  
Public Trust ◽  
Public Access ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Trust Doctrine ◽  
Law Professors

The Transformation of the Public Trust Doctrine

2021 ◽  
pp. 244-280
Author(s):  
Joseph D. Kearney ◽  
Thomas W. Merrill
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Public Trust ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Public Access ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Property ◽  
Public Trust Doctrine ◽  
Public Resources

This chapter focuses on a remarkable rebirth of the public trust doctrine and traces the arc of its development on the Chicago lakefront in the twentieth century. It discusses how the public trust doctrine became the primary legal rubric for resolving controversies about what is permitted and forbidden on the lakefront. The chapter then asserts that the purpose of the doctrine has changed dramatically. It was originally to preserve public access to navigable waters, in order to allow the public to engage in commerce or fishing, then the focus changed with the environmental revolution in the 1970s. Today, the purpose is understood to be the preservation of public resources in the hands of public institutions. Ultimately, the chapter analyses how the doctrine became an antiprivatization doctrine for certain select categories of public property.

scholarly journals Judicial Resources and the Public Trust Doctrine: A Powerful Tool of Environmental Protection?

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 469-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Richardson Oakes
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Civil Law ◽  
Public Trust ◽  
Federal Courts ◽  
Environmental Discourse ◽  
Supreme Court Justice ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Trust Doctrine ◽  
Legal Frameworks

AbstractUnited Kingdom Supreme Court Justice Robert Carnwath has urged the judiciary to develop ‘common laws of the environment’, which can operate within different legal frameworks, tailored where necessary towards specific constitutions or statutory codes. One such mechanism with the potential for repositioning environmental discourse in both common law and civil law jurisdictions is the doctrine of the public trust. Basing their arguments upon a heritage of civil law and common law, supporters of the public trust doctrine are currently testing its scope in United States federal courts via groundbreaking litigation aimed at forcing the federal government to uphold its duty to protect the atmosphere. This article considers whether common law judicial resourcefulness can transform a transatlantic hybrid of uncertain parentage into a powerful tool of environmental protection.

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