Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

13 results

Threatened Island Nations
  • Legal Implications of Rising Seas and a Changing Climate
  • Edited by Michael B. Gerrard, Gregory E. Wannier
  • Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    21 January 2013
  • Rising seas are endangering the habitability and very existence of several small island nations, mostly in the Pacific and Indian oceans. This is the first book to focus on the myriad legal issues posed by this tragic situation: if a nation is under water, is it still a state? Does it still have a seat at the United Nations? What becomes of its exclusive economic zone, the basis for its fishing rights? What obligations do other nations have to take in the displaced populations, and what are these peoples' rights and legal status once they arrive? Should there be a new international agreement on climate-displaced populations? Do these nations and their citizens have any legal recourse for compensation? Are there any courts that will hear their claims, and based on what theories? Leading legal scholars from around the world address these novel questions and propose answers.

  • 20 - United States of America

  • from North America
  • Edited by Richard Lord, Silke Goldberg, Lavanya Rajamani, Jutta Brunnée, University of Toronto
  • Book:
    Climate Change Liability
    Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    01 December 2011, pp 556-604

  • Summary

    Introduction

    20.01The prospect of carbon liability in the United States is a relatively recent phenomenon. It is only in the last decade that US environmental lawyers and policy-makers have begun to turn their attention to climate change, as climate-related litigation has surged, government action on several fronts has begun, and climate change has generally been recognised as a factor to consider in decision-making across the economy. This chapter lays out existing options to establish liability for greenhouse gas (‘GHG’) emissions along legislative, regulatory and judicial channels.

    The United States legal system

    20.02The United States of America (‘USA’) was founded as a constitutional democracy. Its primary document is the US Constitution, which establishes the absolute rules for how the federal government functions. It has a three-part system: the bicameral legislature (House of Representatives and the Senate, which together form the Congress) passes legislation; the President signs and implements such laws; and the federal court system, guided by the Supreme Court, determines the legality of federal (and some other) activities. In order to execute the law, the President relies heavily on a federal bureaucracy of administrative agencies, which utilise their technical expertise to implement congressional mandates through regulations and thereby create a set of legal rules subsidiary to statutes (laws). In addition to this, federal courts work in a common law system, and so are able to set laws through judicial decision-making.