3. Private Law

This chapter provides an overview of different areas of private law and their relationship to environmental law including property law, tort law, contract law, and private law. The chapter begins by showing how the role of private law in addressing environmental problems is due to environmental law being applied law. Sections 3.3, 3.4, 3.5 and 3.6 give an overview of property law, tort law, contract law, and company law and their relationship to environmental law. This analysis shows that private law has a role in framing our understanding of environmental law and environmental problems, while environmental law and environmental problems also shape understandings of private law, and of property law in particular. The final section concludes by discussing the multi-dimensional nature of the interrelationship between private law, environmental problems, and environmental law in more detail.