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EV 271 & 374 Environmental Law & Policy

US legal resources dealing with environmental issues to aid in examining the role of policy and law in protecting the environment

Case Law

Part of common law, consisting of judgments given by higher (appellate) courts in interpreting the statutes (or the provisions of a constitution) applicable in cases brought before them. Called precedents, they are binding on all courts (within the same jurisdiction) to be followed as the law in similar cases. (from What is case law?- BusinessDictionary.com)
Persuasive authority refers to cases, statutes, regulations, or secondary sources that the court may follow but does not have to follow.
Stare decisis, (Latin for “let the decision stand”), is the principle by which judges are bound to past decisions.
These judicial interpretations are distinguished from statutory law, which are codes enacted by legislative bodies, and regulatory law, which are established by executive agencies based on statutes.

Important Case and Law examples

Atlantic Richfield Co.
v. Christian, et al.

   

Granted: Jun 10, 2019

Argued: Dec 3, 2019

Decided: Apr 20, 2020

590 US _ (2020)

 

Image result for Montana’s Anaconda Smelter site

                  File:Anaconda Stack.jpg

     The Supreme Court will decide: (1) whether a common-law claim for restoration seeking cleanup remedies that conflict with remedies the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ordered is a jurisdictionally barred “challenge” to the EPA’s cleanup;
(2) whether a landowner at a Superfund site is a “potentially responsible party” that must seek EPA approval before engaging in remedial action, even if the EPA has never ordered the landowner to pay for a cleanup; and
(3) whether CERCLA preempts state common-law claims for restoration that seek cleanup remedies that conflict with EPA-ordered remedies.

Reference Sources

Bieber's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations, 2nd Floor Reference, KF246 .P73 1997
- Also available online via NexisUni.

Black's Law Dictionary, 2nd Floor Reference, KF156 .B53 2009

A Dictionary of Law - Oxford  online reference book