About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

17 U. Brit. Colum. L. Rev. 35 (1983)
The Enforcement of Environmental Law: Taking the Environment Seriously

handle is hein.journals/ubclr17 and id is 41 raw text is: THE ENFORCEMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAW: TAKING THE ENVIRONMENT SERIOUSLY MURRAY RANKINt PETER FINKLE* Introduction Environmental law in Canada has developed slowly during the last two decades. While the rise and popularization of the environ- mental movement of the sixties and early seventies did encourage the creation of a federal Department of Environment and many provincial counterparts and facilitated the passage of a number of pieces of legislation as well, there is some question as to how sub- stantial an impact these institutions and legislation have made on Canadian society. One problem which has beset the development of adequate en- vironmental legislation is the significant gap which has opened up between the words on paper, the black letter law, and the actual actions undertaken by politicians and officials to implement that law. The gap between words and action is obscured from adequate analysis, because contemporary Canadian legal analysis views legis- lation and court decisions as quite separate from the behaviour of politicians, officials and judges toward the legislation. It is often said by jurists, lawyers and public officials that a good, strict law exists, but that there is a lack of public or political will to enforce that law. This explanation obscures and ignores how the legal pro- cess appears to those subject to it and, worse, encourages the par- ticipants in the legal process to view their respective roles indepen- dently. For example, it is not unusual to find a piece of environmental protection legislation which declares, albeit in a vague and general fashion, that pollution contrary to a statute (or regulations or a t Of the Faculty of Law, University of Victoria. * Of the School of Public Administration, University of Victoria. @ Murray Rankin and Peter Finkle, 1983.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most