This course will examine the underpinnings of environmental and natural resources law by exploring the foundational ideas governing the use, protection and allocation of the environment and natural resources. Among the subjects covered will be competing theories of entitlement, including those represented in the concept of property in the common law tradition, humans as conquerors or citizens of nature, the public trust, and nature as an economic resource. Drawing from both legal and non-legal sources, students will examine the historical circumstances of laws governing nature, will consider the modern application of those laws, and will investigate in depth the social, political and economic policy implications of regulating nature.
