Oregon’s public trust doctrine has been misunderstood. The doctrine has not been judicially interpreted in over thirty years but was the subject of an Oregon Attorney General’s opinion in 2005. That opinion interpreted the scope of the doctrine to be limited to the beds of tidelands and...

The public trust doctrine is an ancient doctrine of public property law that governs sovereign stewardship of natural resources. The doctrine both promote public access to trust resources and requires sovereign protection of them for the benefit of the public, including future generations. The...

Professor Blumm traces the evolution of the modern public trust doctrine in the West. He claims the doctrine is best understood by focusing on the remedies courts prescribe for trust violations. Although he sees four distinct categories of remedies in the case law, he asserts that they all...

In November 2016, just two days after the election of President Donald Trump, the federal district court in Oregon handed down Juliana v. Obama, a remarkable decision that refused to dismiss a lawsuit brought by youth plaintiffs who claimed that federal government's fossil fuel policies over the...

Chile, whose public has experienced widespread dissatisfaction with Chilean environmental policies, seems poised to use the ongoing redrafting of its constitution to entrench the public trust doctrine in its fundamental charter. The ancient doctrine, emanating from Roman law and reflected in the...

Lakefront: Public Trust and Private Rights in Chicago is Joseph Kearney and Thomas Merrill’s engaging account of how public law affected the development of the Chicago lakefront, is a meticulously detailed history of a century-and-a-half of law and urban affairs. The authors center the book...