ABSTRACT
Environmental law developed out of common law controls that were mainly based around the idea of property rights and nuisance.3 This later took legislative form through the public health legislation that still concentrated on human needs, that is, health rather than the protection of the environment per se.4 Since 1945, when a vast range of artificial, totally new substances were introduced into the environment, such as pesticides, there has been growing pressure and fear about whether we are upsetting the ecosystem to such a degree that we threaten the continuity of the system itself.
