The Environmental Emergency and the Legality of Discretion in Environmental Law

Osgoode Hall Law Journal, Vol. 53(1), 2015, Forthcoming

Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper No. 20/2015

56 Pages Posted: 19 Jun 2015

See all articles by Jocelyn Stacey

Jocelyn Stacey

University of British Columbia (UBC), Faculty of Law

Date Written: June 18, 2015

Abstract

This article argues that environmental issues confront us as an ongoing emergency. The epistemic features of serious environmental issues – the fact that we cannot reliably distinguish ex ante between benign policy choices and choices that may lead to environmental catastrophe – are the same features of an emergency. This means that, like emergencies, environmental issues pose a fundamental challenge for the rule of law: they reveal the necessity of unconstrained executive discretion. Discretion is widely lamented as a fundamental flaw in Canadian environmental law, which undermines both environmental protection and the rule of law itself. Through the conceptual framework of the environmental emergency, this article offers a critique of the current understanding of discretion in environmental law and suggests how an alternative conception of the rule of law can both constitute and constrain the state’s regulative authority over the environment.

Keywords: Environmental law, administrative law, regulation, rule of law, emergency powers, common law constitutionalism

JEL Classification: H10, H11, H12, K00, K1, K10, K32, K40, Q00, Q58

Suggested Citation

Stacey, Jocelyn, The Environmental Emergency and the Legality of Discretion in Environmental Law (June 18, 2015). Osgoode Hall Law Journal, Vol. 53(1), 2015, Forthcoming, Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper No. 20/2015, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2619688 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2619688

Jocelyn Stacey (Contact Author)

University of British Columbia (UBC), Faculty of Law ( email )

1822 East Mall
Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1
Canada

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