This dissertation addresses the impact of principles of soft law on the development of international regimes for environmental protection. It focuses on three such principles that have attracted a certain degree of consensus in international environmental law and are therefore influential in international environmental regimes: namely, the principle of common but differentiated obligations; the principle of common heritage of mankind and its corollary, the principle of common concern of humankind; and the precautionary principle. The regimes analysed are the Antarctic regime, the regime for control of trade in endangered species, the regime for protection of the stratospheric ozone layer, and the emerging regime governing conservation and management of straddling fish stocks. It is argued that these principles influence normative development in international environmental regimes through processes of discourse in which participants, both state and non-state actors, seek to determine the rules by which their mutual relations will be governed and their common interests protected. Such discourse also connects the evolution of legal rules with a broader set of concerns relating to the interest of human communities in achieving a certain level of environmental protection. In this respect, the legal rules may be contemplated within a moral framework in which members of international society seek to determine what they ought to do with respect to global environmental protection.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.37857 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | Ellis, Jaye. |
| Contributors | Toope, Stephen J. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Civil Law (Institute of Comparative Law.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001826984, proquestno: NQ75597, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
Page generated in 0.0017 seconds