UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

Towards an ecological philosophy of law: a comparative discussion

Identification

Public canonical key

doi:10.4337/jhre.2013.02.03

Authors

Vito De Lucia

Reported year

2013

Reported language

en

Source type

article

First detected

2026-11-09T19:04:47.846852+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-09T19:11:05.422472+00:00

Last HTTP verification

Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

UiT The Arctic University of Norway

Reported affiliation countries

NO

Documentary abstract — original language

Environmental law finds itself in a very delicate position. Its role is to elaborate rules and principles for addressing multiple ecological crises, yet environmental law is structurally and conceptually rooted in a broader legal tradition thoroughly implicated in the domination and ‘othering’ of nature. The ecological worldview challenges the roots of modern law, casting critical light upon Cartesian dualism and the epistemology of mastery. While environmental law has incorporated some of the new knowledge offered by ecology into its normative texture, and has shifted its focus from fragmented parts and individuals (for example, individual species) towards wholes, relationships and complexity (for example, biodiversity, ecosystems processes), it remains far from being a comprehensive translation of the ecological worldview into law. Against this background, this article will discuss and compare two frameworks – Earth Jurisprudence and Law for Nature – both of which aim to elaborate an ecological philosophy of law. It will be suggested that while their critical premises are similarly grounded on ecological critiques of central legal categories such as subject (persons), object (things) and property (ownership), their respective ethical stances and central strategies are quite different: Earth Jurisprudence aims at articulating an ecocentric narrative in which nature is understood as a plurality of legal subjects endowed with rights; Law for Nature starts from a concept of ecological normativity, which through a continuous transformative process re-orients law, and grounds the relationship between subject and object in the concept of patrimonium . The tensions between subjective rights and objective norms, between individual and community, and between practical action and long-lasting, radical re-orientation, operate as guides for the discussion offered here.

Identifiers

DOI

10.4337/jhre.2013.02.03

OPENALEX

W2029457734

OPENAIRE

doi_dedup___::4a8ad34fab029461e1e507d6b45f035f

Documentary context

Documentary family

Scholarship

Source-reported types

Article · article

Natural entities mentioned

Ecosystem · Species

Entity mentions are not evidence of legal recognition. Jurisdiction studied is separate from author affiliation country.

Sources

OpenAIRE · Record 1

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2

• DOI · https://doi.org/10.4337/jhre.2013.02.03
• OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W2029457734

Documented bibliographic relations

Source-declared references and links; they do not establish legal support or UGLC qualification. Up to 20 outgoing references are displayed.

17 incoming references within the detected corpus

Documentary status

Relevance pending

Library

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