Water Case Study

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With the ever growing concern that the world’s water supply is dwindling, property law and the concept of legal personhood is being applied to the situation in order to create a solution to preserve the water quality and supply. Economists like Garrett Hardin and Elinor Ostrom have also shared their ideas in relation to issue of water conservation. All of this, combined with the legal cases that have already been argued in relation to water, create various viewpoints and solutions to the issue of water pollution and supply. Property law has three main purposes and these purposes can be applied to the possible solution for water preservation. For the allocation of common resources in a society, like water, social rules may be applied. The social rules for allocation of common resources may differ between societies, with …show more content…

Nova Scotia Forest Industries involved the allegation that if offending chemicals, produced by Nova Scotia Forest Industries, go on to the plaintiff’s land they would interfere with the health of the plaintiff and the enjoyment of his land. In this case the judge decided that it was unnecessary to consider the riparian rights in relation to the groundwater that would be potentially impacted because of the chemicals because there a health risk was not proven. This case shows that the law does not recognize the rights of commons such as water and the harm that may occur because of pollution and chemicals, but is only concerned with the effect it may have on humans. The case of Wanganui River was a major step towards the resolution of historical grievances of Whanganui Iwi and it national importance. A society in which rivers have legal rights causes a collaboration between, in this case, the iwi, the central and local government along with commercial and recreational users. Rivers holding legal rights created a different legal system because now new rules and regulations need to be put in place in order to protect the rivers

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