Illinois Water Law: Common-Law Foundations and Statutory Adjustments

Abstract:     
This piece explores Illinois’ common law of water, including a review of its English and colonial antecedents, and of some statutory extensions and modifications of that common law. It then proposes some reforms to the state’s common law of water, reforms designed to render the law more responsive to current and future scarcity concerns, and to permit minimal reliance on statutory systems of administrative allocation of water.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 20

Keywords: water, common law, natural resources, environmental law, property law

working papers series