Private law's effectiveness in environmental conservation and protection

¶ … regal obligations owed by private individuals and company can help to protect community from environmental damage, and consider the effectiveness of such a system in preventing future harm.

The research proposal tries to explain how private laws owed by private individuals and companies have being applied in environmental conservation and effectiveness of these laws in terms of being able to prevent any form of environmental threat in the future.

The first section introduces the research topic, then the paper tries to answer the question; whether private law are more inclined towards environmental preservation or not?, After which the research explores more in-depth on private law by considering issues such as; advantages and disadvantages of private law, the difference between public and private law then a case study is given to show how cases involving private law are dealt with in court of law and another alternative case is also given and thereafter the research is concluded.

Introduction

The main background of the research proposal is environmental science, consequently the topic of research is on how best regal obligations bestowed on private individuals and companies can be used to preserve the environment, therefore assuring the community of a productive and health environment, and how effective is this system in ensuring that there will be no future threat to the environment particular the water environment.

Private individuals and companies have been granted obligations to protect and conserve the environment in the private law which prescribes legal relationship between individuals. The research thus establishes how private law on a broader perspective has helped in environmental conservation (Aristides, 2002).

Currently there are numerous talks about global warming, which has seen World leader conveying international meeting or forums so as to form a common lasting solution on environmental pollution that has mostly affected water environment and lead to global warming. For this the reason private laws have received so much attention because they can be used for the benefit of conserving the environment.

Private law on environmental conservation

According to books written by Speth & Haas,(2006), he states that laws which prescribe the relationship between different persons can be termed as private laws and they comprises of individual obligation laws, company obligation laws, law of contracts and law of torts. In the view that private law is applicable only on selected and minor issues, Joseph, (1999) describes it in his book; as once a private bill which was later passed to be law and is to be applied on persons or company as specified by the law.

Perhaps the obligation law in the United Kingdom or Law No. 130 of Japan which came into effect on the 25th of July, 2003 can best explain how private law promotes environmental conservation. Both countries private laws mainly aim at encouraging environmental conservation practices at the same time offering environmental education to private organizations, companies and individuals with the main agenda of establishing economic success in the country, which doesn't have any negative impact to the environment but rather results to a productive and healthy environment that can sustain the society as a whole.

Obligation law in the private law describes activities that are aimed at conserving the environment; as any form of voluntary activity by a private person or company that's geared towards reducing environmental pollution, conserving and protecting natural resources bestowed on this environment which include water catchment areas. By the term 'environmental education' which the law has used frequently, it is supposed to mean that the law will seek to educate individuals or companies on in-depth issues about conserving the environment. The two factors are also the law's basic principle on environmental conservation that first acknowledges the importance of a productive and healthy environment, and the community living in this environment that has the sole responsibility of protecting it. The second major principle of the law further acknowledges the need to create more awareness and understanding on matters to do with environment that can bring out the interest among all stakeholders for them to conserve the environment (Gordley & Taylor, 2006).

Private law in the UK states the roles to be played by individuals and companies in environmental conservation and in doing so it explains the regal obligation owed by persons and organizations in participating in activities that are aimed at protecting the environment from any danger that can harm it. The law requires everybody and even business organizations operating in UK to voluntarily take up necessary measures that are aimed at conserving the environment including the water resources furthermore engaging themselves in education matters relevant to the environment which will consequently lead to cooperation amongst themselves in environmental conservation. The British government is also tasked with the responsibility of creating conducive environment that will encourage its citizen and local companies to willingly volunteer to participate in environment conservation, secondly the government is also tasked with the responsibility of formulating and implementing policies or regulations that seek to promote environmental conservation and environmental education.

Reports from the United Nations environmental program show that over the past few years private law has been used more so in water conservation in the United Kingdom; individuals and non-profit making organization have taken up their regal obligation as stated in private law of the land so as to conserve the environment particularly the water catchment areas, they have done so by using conservation easements which allow them to restrict any form of environmental pollution on lands that are considered prone to pollution and erosion of ecological features and natural resources. The state has also engaged in this practice by encouraging landlords who have title deed of their land to offer such land, water resource or building for activities that are environmentally-oriented including sites for learning about environmental conservation (Aristides, 2002).

Advantages of the private law

Private laws in the UK will protect individuals from liability that will be incurred due to another contracting party's own breach of contract, and even in circumstances where the contracting party gives a false statement when the contract was being made.

Private law of UK through restitution impose obligation to a party who had defaulted in the contract leading to the other party to suffer from unjust gains. Previously restitution was used on contracts which were unenforceable but the rule of law required that the plaintiff be given a remedy, at the present moment restitution is applied with an aim of preventing unjust enrichment (Boyce & Shelley, 2003).

UK's private law through its doctrine of equitable obligation will see to it that those who are trusted with performing a certain duty for another party e. g representation by a lawyer do so by representing their genuine interest. Also the same law protects against disclosure of information given in confidence to other trusted persons, statements given under lawyer client privilege.

Gordley & Taylor, (2006) in his studies noted that private law can offer high financial incentives in cases where one's right was injured and in other circumstance it offers minimum financial consequence to the party that will bear the cost.

Private law is used by the United Kingdom parliament to give compensation or grant to specified persons or groups. A situation which gives an example where private law was used in such a manner was in September of 1789 when UK parliament awarded its' military seventeen months salary pay back, other similar laws have also been passed in the past to compensate those who suffered losses and injuries from military operations.

The other merit of private law is through its private label resell rights which has opened a channel through which people can get an extra source of income by buying resell rights of a product either good or service and reselling it as if its bone's own original product.

Disadvantages of the private law

Private law can't be used where the case is considered to be either of a constitutional nature, criminal case or administrative law because these cases are out of its jurisdiction.

Barlow, (2009) pointed out that the private label resell right has disadvantages in that an investor can buy rights to a product or a program which later turns out to be hard to sell, making the investor to incur losses.

Case study of private law-Pavey & Matthews vs. Paul

In the case between Pavey & Matthews vs. Paul; Pavey and Paul had an oral agreement which Pavey had agreed to construct for Paul a house and upon finishing his work Pavey laid a claim of sixty three thousand dollars as his service fee, but Paul was only able to pay Pavey thirty six thousand dollars and Pavey reacted to this with a law suit on Paul for the balance owed to him.

The oral contract between Pavey and Paul was unenforceable in the builders licensing act (1971) that doesn't acknowledge oral contracts and is based on the doctrine of restitution which meant that it protected persons who own building against unjust or excessive claims from constrictors.

The following facts were derived from this case; thou the oral contract was unenforceable it was still an evidence that indeed there was money compensation for Pavey of which he couldn't lay claim on the balance under contract; in restitution an independent evaluation is done separate from contract terms.

The ruling in this case was Pavey claim was admissible as it was based on unjust enrichment and not implied contract, hence it could not be nullified because it was an oral contract entered between Pavey and Paul. The amount to be awarded to Pavey was not to be any less than what was considered to be a fair amount but it was upon the court to decide on when to pay him the outstanding balance or not.

Alternative for the above case study-Gates vs. Mutual life assurance

In this case Mr. Gates entered into a contractual relationship with an insurance company called Mutual life. Gates alleges that the insurance agent who sold him the policy told him that he would be compensated for the ninety day he wouldn't be able to engage in any meaningful form of employment, but the fact was that the insurance policy would compensate him if he is unable to attend to any gainful employment.

Gates who worked as a contractor was involved in an accident that made him unable to attend to his job at the construction site, however the injury sustained were not capable of making Gates not attend to another different job and so his insurance company refused to compensate him as he was told by the insurance agent citing their policy only allows them to compensate those who didn't attend to any gainful employment.

The ruling in this case were against Gates as it was claimed that damages he suffered were not due to breach of contract and due to the fact that he was unable to justify that the agent's statement formed part of the contract or a secondary contract furthermore he was unable to show that another insurer would have compensated him in the same circumstance.

Conclusion

Britain's private law has clearly defined the regal obligation owed by citizens of a country and business organization operating in our countries, and how each of the two parties can take up an active role in environmental conservation. Another good example apart from the UK where private law have been used for purposes of environmental conservation is in Japan where the famous Law No.130 has been applied aggressively in conservation of the environment and education about the environment which aims at cultivating interest among its citizens to voluntarily participate in activities that tends towards environmental preservation. Thus the research has concluded with positive findings on the topic of discussion (Barlow, 2009); that these regal obligations indeed have been useful on environmental conservation in the UK and they will continue being effective even in the future for the purpose of preserving nature and its resources...