Doctrine of State Responsibility in the Law of Inter-state Marine Pollution Damage
(2012) JASM01 20121Department of Law
- Abstract (Swedish)
- The question of environmental protection has lately become essential due to the increased number of polluters and accidents that have occurred in recent decades. The starting point was the Torrey Canyon disaster which happened in March 1967 and exposed the entire international community to a great danger of environmental harm in general and marine pollution in particular. The accident also pointed to the fact that the doctrine of state responsibility, which by that time was quite young and undeveloped, was indeed too weak to deal with the multifaceted problem. Thus, there arose the question of improvement and perfection of the doctrine of state responsibility; and that issue gave rise to multiple scholarly discussions and legislative... (More)
- The question of environmental protection has lately become essential due to the increased number of polluters and accidents that have occurred in recent decades. The starting point was the Torrey Canyon disaster which happened in March 1967 and exposed the entire international community to a great danger of environmental harm in general and marine pollution in particular. The accident also pointed to the fact that the doctrine of state responsibility, which by that time was quite young and undeveloped, was indeed too weak to deal with the multifaceted problem. Thus, there arose the question of improvement and perfection of the doctrine of state responsibility; and that issue gave rise to multiple scholarly discussions and legislative approaches to proper implementation of the doctrine. Nevertheless, though half a century has passed since the unfortunate disaster, the doctrine of state responsibility remains largely ineffective and therefore, not entirely operative. The most significant international documents on this subject are still at a draft stage.
Nonetheless, while the legal instruments are only being drafted, the realities demonstrate a strong necessity for the doctrine of state responsibility to be fully developed and put into proper effect. It needs no reiteration that four fifths of planet earth consists of water: and together with the related resources including the flora and the fauna, the marine environment should have first priority in terms of environmental protection. This subject therefore requires further study for the development and implementation of new rules concerning the doctrine of state responsibility.
Ad interim, the meaning and utility of the doctrine of state responsibility is dependent on what type of implementation instrument operates. Marine environmental protection for the most part falls within the public law domain whereas the majority of existing international conventions deal with private law. Thus, the utility of the doctrine is questionable in terms of its application through those private law instruments. In any case, this issue needs to be addressed not only to separate entities, regardless of whether they are public or private, but to the world community at large. Moreover, in cases of pollution of the marine environment, both states and individuals should be concerned and different kinds of legal instruments should be used. Thus, regardless of who violates the law or whatever may be the source of the pollution, states would bear the responsibility and be liable for the environmental harm caused.
Consequently, the doctrine of state responsibility, as applied to marine environmental law, is of major importance and thereby requires carefully considered development, especially with regard to its legal constituents. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/2701786
- author
- Polunina, Tatiana LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- JASM01 20121
- year
- 2012
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- language
- English
- id
- 2701786
- date added to LUP
- 2012-10-15 11:55:47
- date last changed
- 2012-10-15 11:55:47
@misc{2701786,
abstract = {{The question of environmental protection has lately become essential due to the increased number of polluters and accidents that have occurred in recent decades. The starting point was the Torrey Canyon disaster which happened in March 1967 and exposed the entire international community to a great danger of environmental harm in general and marine pollution in particular. The accident also pointed to the fact that the doctrine of state responsibility, which by that time was quite young and undeveloped, was indeed too weak to deal with the multifaceted problem. Thus, there arose the question of improvement and perfection of the doctrine of state responsibility; and that issue gave rise to multiple scholarly discussions and legislative approaches to proper implementation of the doctrine. Nevertheless, though half a century has passed since the unfortunate disaster, the doctrine of state responsibility remains largely ineffective and therefore, not entirely operative. The most significant international documents on this subject are still at a draft stage.
Nonetheless, while the legal instruments are only being drafted, the realities demonstrate a strong necessity for the doctrine of state responsibility to be fully developed and put into proper effect. It needs no reiteration that four fifths of planet earth consists of water: and together with the related resources including the flora and the fauna, the marine environment should have first priority in terms of environmental protection. This subject therefore requires further study for the development and implementation of new rules concerning the doctrine of state responsibility.
Ad interim, the meaning and utility of the doctrine of state responsibility is dependent on what type of implementation instrument operates. Marine environmental protection for the most part falls within the public law domain whereas the majority of existing international conventions deal with private law. Thus, the utility of the doctrine is questionable in terms of its application through those private law instruments. In any case, this issue needs to be addressed not only to separate entities, regardless of whether they are public or private, but to the world community at large. Moreover, in cases of pollution of the marine environment, both states and individuals should be concerned and different kinds of legal instruments should be used. Thus, regardless of who violates the law or whatever may be the source of the pollution, states would bear the responsibility and be liable for the environmental harm caused.
Consequently, the doctrine of state responsibility, as applied to marine environmental law, is of major importance and thereby requires carefully considered development, especially with regard to its legal constituents.}},
author = {{Polunina, Tatiana}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Doctrine of State Responsibility in the Law of Inter-state Marine Pollution Damage}},
year = {{2012}},
}