ABSTRACT
In 1970, law professor Joseph Sax proposed a strikingly simple, intuitively appealing approach to environmental protection, namely, that natural resources ought to be regarded as held in common. Sax derives his doctrine from Roman law and traces it to early US Supreme Court decisions in which the Court used trust language to protect shores, rivers, and other water-related resources. Although Sax initially applied the trust doctrine to water conservation, later commentators have urged the doctrine's extension to protect dry beaches, wildlife, parks, and the scientific study of all of these, a suggestion that some states have adopted. Despite its widespread approval and influence, Sax's theory inhibited the development of other approaches that would have enabled —and might —to cope better with environmental problems. The adoption of Sax's approach into statutory law effectively pushed aside other promising approaches to environmental policy and protection. Three such theories were: Aldo Leopold's system of earth-centered ethics; Native American thought; and ecofeminism.
