Personality and Representation in Environmental Law

Abstract

Jorge Vinuales from the University of Cambridge observed in his working paper on “Law and the Anthropocene” that law is founded on a series of core concepts, such as, “legal personality, representation, obligation, debt, causality or damage” (CEENRG Working Papers 2016- 4, page 49). This led him to note that a “significant problem” faced by environmental law is how to flesh out these core concepts in relation to the protection of the environment (page 53). For example, should we regard natural resources (e.g. rivers or mountains) as “subjects” of environmental law with their “own interests and capacity to act (through representation)”, or merely as the “objects” of environmental law – to be protected either “directly” as specific natural resources, or “indirectly” via the protection of the environment generally (page 53). This article interrogates these perspectives by reference to recent New Zealand developments.