While many might consider environmental law to be a relatively new development in the United States, it's actually been an important part of our society since the Colonial period. Back then, just as today, key issues surrounded water quality and property degradation as a result of pollution.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s the federal government, through legislation like the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act, took a much larger, top-down role in environmental management. Part of the reason for the government's recent expanded role was not because there were not existing laws or ways to deal with environmental problems, but because the courts often failed to uphold the property rights of individuals while often favoring the interests of big businesses and government. In so doing, the courts abandoned the traditional Common Law approach to environmental issues. Additionally, many cities and states simply failed to uphold existing laws.

You can learn more about the development of environmental law in the United States and internationally below.