Abrahamic religious and Roman legal roots of environmental protection: utility of ancient doctrines in modern society

Abstract

Many members of modern American society, including some outspoken members of the national leadership, subscribe to the idea that natural resource conservation and environmental protection are recent developments. Even if they have a firm grasp of modern history, they may look to the 1920s and 1930s as the genesis point for natural resource conservation as a concern of the law. Environmental protection is looked at as having arisen out of the social foment of the late 1960s–early 1970s. Although there is some truth in these interpretations, it would be wrong to discount much more ancient antecedent authorities in law and social norms for these societal choices. These interpretations overlook the importance of two key millennia–old legal and religious authorities that underlie modern legal, political, and religious thinking about the environment: res communes (the concept in Roman Law which leads directly to the modern Anglo–American concept of the Public Trust Doctrine), and the concept of the Sabbatical and Jubilee Years found in the Pentateuch (first section of the Jewish and Hebrew Scriptures). This chapter will reexamine each of these concepts in light of modern criticism regarding natural resource protection and property rights. The chapter will explore the concepts of res communes and Sabbatical/Jubilee Years; their similarities and differences; their influence on modern legal, religious, and societal practice; and how each of these concepts can be used to help provide further support for proper stewardship of the natural environment. Special consideration will be paid to the similar concepts of natural resource stewardship and intergenerational equity that arose from the very different societal roots: the Roman Law found in the Institutes of Justinian and the foundational Abrahamic writings underlying the beliefs of three major world religions.