UDTR — Radar mondial des droits de la Nature

Legal Personhood in the Anthropocene

Identification

Clé publique

doi:10.1007/978-3-032-41361-1

Auteurs

Bing Cheng Ben Chester

Année déclarée

2026

Langue déclarée

en · eng

Type source

Book

Première détection

2026-11-09T19:08:58.537653+00:00

Dernière observation des métadonnées

2026-11-09T19:08:58.537653+00:00

Dernière vérification HTTP

Non effectuée

Résumé documentaire — langue originale

Claims to legal personhood have expanded dramatically beyond traditional boundaries to encompass rivers, future generations, and potentially artificial intelligence and animals. Yet many such initiatives fail, collapsing into symbolic gestures without practical effect. This book argues that these failures stem not only from fragmented approaches that privilege one dimension—environmental protection, governance efficiency, or social equity—while neglecting others, but also from treating legal personhood itself as a solution rather than as a regulatory tool requiring careful institutional design. Corporate personhood evolved alongside increasingly sophisticated governance structures that often externalised environmental and social costs. Environmental personhood emerged from ecological imperatives but frequently faltered due to weak governance structures and contested legitimacy, as illustrated by the contrast between New Zealand's comparatively robust Whanganui River framework (comprehensive governance, dedicated funding, and integration of tikanga Māori) and India's subsequently stayed river-personhood orders (minimal resources, unclear authority, and exclusionary framing). The book develops an integrated Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) framework establishing three interlocking criteria: environmental integrity, social equity, and governance feasibility. These function not as independent variables but as mutually constitutive requirements—environmental objectives require governance mechanisms and social legitimacy; governance arrangements require environmental purpose and social legitimation; social acceptance depends on environmental outcomes and governance processes. Through comparative analysis across multiple jurisdictions, the book shows how ESG can evaluate personhood regimes and, crucially, serve as a pre-recognition diagnostic for determining when governance should proceed through alternative legal architectures rather than through the creation of new legal persons. In doing so, it reframes personhood as an instrument of institutional design rather than a metaphysical status, offering practical guidance for judges, legislators, advocates, and administrators addressing environmental crisis, technological change, and evolving governance demands in the Anthropocene.

Identifiants

DOI

10.1007/978-3-032-41361-1

OPENAIRE

doi_dedup___::c78e69daf0d955d9638a31dde64dcb4e

Repères documentaires

Famille documentaire

Livre

Types déclarés par les sources

Book

Juridictions étudiées — sources explicites

IN · NZ

Entités naturelles mentionnées

Fleuve / rivière

Les mentions d’entités ne constituent pas une preuve de reconnaissance juridique. La juridiction étudiée est distincte du pays d’affiliation des auteurs.

Description bibliographique du livre

Disponibilité non établie

Sources

OpenAIRE · Document 1

• DOI · https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-41361-1

Statut documentaire

Pertinence à examiner

Bibliothèque

Cette identité n’est pas encore intégrée à la Bibliothèque juridique.