Common Law
Blowing from the direction of his neighbor’s lime-kiln, the wind carried corrosive quicklime dust onto plaintiff’s fruit orchard, killing trees. Plaintiff sued. The court in assizes ruled; “He shall have his writte.” 4 Edward III, Lib. Ass. Pl. 3. It was England. It was 1331 A.D. It was the dawn of environmental common law.
Environmental common law is almost all tort law. Typically the tort is pollution of the air or water. The remedies sought may be either at law or in equity. In addition to the body of case law that has built up over the centuries, some recent statutory enactments are of great importance in modification of the common law. Environmental common law is dominated by the common law of nuisance, with contributions from other theories. Reading the cases, it is not always clear what the theory of liability is. It may not even be important for the litigant, but it is for the legal researcher and the advocate to be mindful of what has gone before into environmental common law. It is the source and a place from whence useful concepts may be appropriated.