Doctrine of the Public Trust

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.... Empire developed a legal theory known as the 'Doctrine of the Public Trust'. It was founded on the ideas that certain common properties such as rivers, seashore, forests and the air were held by Government in trusteeship for the free and unimpeded use of the general public. Our contemporary concern about 'the environment' bear a very close conceptual relationship to this legal doc....

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.... 473, has given the historical background of the Public Trust Doctrine as under: The source of modern public trust law is found in a concept that received much attention in Roman and English law--the nature of property rights in rivers, the sea, and the seashore. That history has been given considerable attention in the legal literature and need not be repeated in detail here. But....

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....iple that certain resources like air, sea, waters and the forests have such a great importance to the people as a whole that it would be wholly unjustified to make them a subject of private ownership. The said resources being a gift of nature, they should be made freely available to everyone irrespective of the status in life. The doctrine enjoins upon the Government to protect the resources for t....