ABSTRACT
This chapter covers Roscoe Pound’s social interest theory and its application, where one adopts the perspective of the environment as a fundamental concern of the law. The key aspect of this social interest theory is the use of law as a tool to realise and balance preferences and demands (values). As such, this theory essentially demands that one adopts a functional approach to law in which outcomes we sought should inform the way we formulate laws and indeed categorise matters. Against the backdrop of environmental protection as a fundamental concern, the social interest theory would dictate that the law of salvage should aim to balance the broader social interests in environmental protection against the social interest in international trade.
