Righting Environmental Wrongs: Assessing the Role of Legal Systems in Redressing Environmental Grievances

During the second half of the twentieth century, many countries fundamentally altered the way in which their legal systems addressed environmental issues. In particular, legal innovations were developed to offer citizens a means of redressing grievances against the state or private entities for violating environmental regulations. The United States began expanding access to its courts for environmental litigation through a landmark decision that broadened the concept of standing; India enlarged the field of potential claimants in environmental litigation through a landmark decision and innovative constitutional interpretation; Japan sought to provide avenues for obtaining remedies through national environmental legislation, but grievances have been more successfully redressed through major decisions that have expanded the scope of constitutionally guaranteed rights. Despite differences in governmental structure, legal doctrine, and legislation, states have undergone dramatic transformations in the way that the public interfaces with the legal system in order to right environmental wrongs.