In this article in the C2C Journal, Elizabeth Brubaker reviews recent court cases against polluters, large and small, demonstrating that common-law property rights remain powerful tools for environmental protection. But courts are hamstrung when governments authorize pollution. Only when governments don’t stand in the way can people use their property rights to shield themselves from harm.  read more »

Jonathan Williams examines the environmental policies of Danielle Smith, leader of Alberta's Wild Rose Alliance. He explores the seminal influence of Elizabeth Brubaker's Property Rights in the Defence of Nature. "If one wants to understand where Danielle Smith is coming from on the environment one would say that Brubaker might be a good place to start."  read more »

This important book builds on earlier work by the same author, Property Rights in the Defence of Nature (1995), which made a strong case that customary common law in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada has been an effective means of pollution control, where and when it has been allowed to work. As that earlier book showed, however, legislative law, often drawn up on the premise that it would promote economic progress or the public good, has often weakened these customary common law remedies to air and water pollution.

This new book applies the same analytical lens to the narrower issue of air and water pollution originating on farms.  read more »

The environment is one of the major concerns of our day, perhaps overwhelmed recently by the economic tsunami that is sweeping the globe, but not an issue that will go away or be easily solved.  read more »

Much of the Canadian environmental movement's efforts to fight climate change have been directed towards advocating for increased government intervention. But what about existing regulatory barriers that hamper the market’s own ability to address environmental problems? Before enacting new legislation to deal with environmental ills, it is worthwhile to consider removing existing laws that block financial incentives for green initiatives. In Canada, government regulation has held back the development and usage of environmentally friendly alternatives like electric cars and hybrid taxis.   read more »

Danielle Smith, campaign director of the Alberta Property Rights Initiative, interviews Elizabeth Brubaker on the use of common-law property rights to protect the environment.  read more »

Tom Adams, Elizabeth Brubaker and Lawrence Solomon are three leading intellectuals in an umbrella organization – Energy Probe Research Foundation (EPRF) – that is influencing the views of a new generation of policymakers about a host of interrelated issues that include environmental protection, energy, urban planning and foreign aid. These folks can't be dismissed as politically left or right of centre.  read more »

On the surface, a recent B.C. court case seemed to deny a legal right to clean water. But in fact, since the 19th century, common law has given the users of water downstream from a polluter a clear right to seek redress through the courts.  read more »

It appears that by opening the waters to the public, Opération Déclubage has caused, at least partly, the general decline in the quality of fishing in the province of Québec. This paper is an attempt to demonstrate that leaving the waters to the care of unaccountable managers leads to a decline in fish stocks, and that a clear system of private property rights is better suited to ensuring resource conservation – not just in Quebec but everywhere the opportunity exists for private river stewards to improve fisheries management.  read more »