Overview

This book follows the rise of the public trust doctrine – which obligates government to protect critical natural resources – from its ancient Roman origins to a modern force of environmental law. Focusing on California's enchanting Mono Lake, it tells the story of a group of everyday people who used the law to save it, spawning a legal revolution that reverberates globally. Their case pitted local advocates against thirsty Angelenos hundreds of miles away, in a dispute that stretches back to the dawn of Western water woes. Their story exemplifies the challenges of balancing legitimate needs for public infrastructure with competing environmental values, within systems of law still evolving to manage conflicting public and private rights in natural resources. Today, public trust principles infuse both common and constitutional law to protect water, wildlife, ecosystems, and climate – marrying sovereign obligations with environmental rights and raising open questions of legal theory, strategy, and meaning.

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9781107171527

Table of Contents

Reviews

'A wonderful read and a magnificent history of the public trust doctrine in all of its varied expressions. Many academics have previously written about the public trust doctrine. But none with Ryan's sweep, care, and rigor.' Richard Lazarus, Charles Stebbins Fairchild Professor of Law, Harvard Law School 'Grounded in her experience as a young forest ranger in California's Mono Lake Basin, Erin Ryan here takes a deep and engaging dive into the public trust doctrine of environmental law, exploring, as she puts it, 'different ways of reconceptualizing environmental rights' where law, politics, and the natural world intersect.' John Leshy, Solicitor of the U.S. Department of the Interior (1993-2001), Emeritus Professor, University of California College of the Law, San Francisco 'The Mono Lake case is one of environmental law's most iconic stories, and here it is masterfully told by one of environmental law's best storytellers. Erin Ryan weaves together doctrine, history, and politics to provide a thorough, fresh, and heartfelt account of one of environmental law's most celebrated tales.' Dave Owen, Harry Sunderland '61 Professor of Law, University of California College of the Law, San Francisco 'Erin Ryan's insightful new book explores the evolving idea of a public trust in environmental resources. An important theme is the trust's elusive nature: Is it a part of ordinary law, managed by legislatures? Or is it quasi-constitutional, reflecting rights in the public that surpass ordinary law? Ryan illuminates the tensions arising from that and many other issues in this dynamic area of environmental law.' Carol Rose, Gordon Bradford Tweedy Professor Emeritus of Law and Organization, Yale University 'Law for the Land eloquently unearths the foundational nature and power of the public trust – 'the reciprocal nature of sovereign obligations and environmental rights' – as it chronicles this ancient principle invoked across the global landscape of environmental conflict. This tour-de-force work is not only for judges, practitioners, scholars, and students. It is a book for the people, all of us, so that we may understand and assert our ecological rights.' Mary Wood, Philip H. Knight Professor, University of Oregon 'Deeply researched and beautifully written, Law for the Land tells the improbable story of how an ancient Roman doctrine reshaped protection of America's most threatened natural treasures. One of the nation's leading environmental scholars, Professor Ryan brings to life the lawyers, scientists, activists, and ordinary citizens who rallied to save a fragile high desert lake and transformed environmental law. At once a personal journey and a sweeping work of history, Law for the Land is a definitive account of the public trust doctrine's evolution and a powerful reminder of why it still matters today.' Jim Salzman, Donald Bren Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law, UCLA 'In this remarkably comprehensive book, Erin Ryan shares both her deep knowledge of the public trust doctrine and her on-the-ground experience at Mono Lake to illuminate how a legal principle has changed the fate of the unique ecosystem at Mono Lake and, importantly, why that matters to vast bird migrations, all of us, and future generations.' Geoffrey McQuilkin, Executive Director, Mono Lake Committee

Author Information

Erin Ryan is an internationally regarded expert in environmental law, constitutional law, negotiation, and collaborative governance. After long service as the Atkinson Professor and Associate Dean for Environmental Programs at the Florida State University College of Law, she joins the faculty at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law in 2026. She presents widely in the United States, Europe, and Asia and has served as a fellow at the Harvard Negotiation Research Project, at the Rachel Carson Center in Munich, and as a Fulbright Scholar in China. After graduating from Harvard Law School, she clerked on the Ninth Circuit and practiced environmental law in San Francisco. Before law school, she was a USFS ranger at Mono Lake, just east of Yosemite National Park.

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