Varner, Gary E. "Environmental Law and the Eclipse of Land as Private Property" in
Ethics and Environmental Policy, Ferre, Frederick (ed) (Athens: University
of Georgia Press, 1994), pp. 142-160.
The civil and common law traditions both place a premium on the
protection of private property, but neither is incompatible with the
current proliferation of environmental laws and regulations. To the
extent these laws are required to prevent harm, both traditions are
compatible with strict environmental regulation, because neither
recognizes the landowner's right to use his or her land in a way that
harms others. However, in order to construe the laws this way, we must
see land as a public resource which is owned in common and which
individuals only hold in a stewardship (or trust) capacity.