Chapter 3 Liability for environmental crimes: A comparative study of laws on ecocide and the prevention of oil discharge into the sea
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Arthur Joyeux
Abstract
Awareness of the short-term destructive effects of human activity on the ecosystem and on human populations is currently being translated into law. This is a response to civil society’s demand that law, particularly criminal and international law, be adapted to the imperative requirements imposed by climate change. The demand for a new way of conceiving the relationship between humans and nature is characterized, in particular, by strong denominative, neological, and discursive dynamics. However, many of the scientific or political concepts that are making inroads into the law are still controversial or considered fuzzy. The construction of environmental law has been marked by calls for vigilance. To illustrate these tensions, this chapter is based on two corpora which were built using the idea that liability is “the guiding principle of environmental law” (Ost, 1995). Indeed, this area’s legal innovation clashes with existing law and its terminology. The first part of this chapter looks at the evolution of the terminology of criminal responsibility in the provisions of three draft texts drawn up by lawyers campaigning for the introduction of the crime of ecocide into criminal law. The second part studies the evolution of the terminology of criminal liability in binding texts relating to marine pollution by oil discharges. The aim is to compare these two corpora and to make the hypothesis that “criminal response to environmental damage caused by oil spills” (Jaworski 2009) offers a powerful legislative framework for responding to calls for stricter repression of environmental crime as a whole.
Abstract
Awareness of the short-term destructive effects of human activity on the ecosystem and on human populations is currently being translated into law. This is a response to civil society’s demand that law, particularly criminal and international law, be adapted to the imperative requirements imposed by climate change. The demand for a new way of conceiving the relationship between humans and nature is characterized, in particular, by strong denominative, neological, and discursive dynamics. However, many of the scientific or political concepts that are making inroads into the law are still controversial or considered fuzzy. The construction of environmental law has been marked by calls for vigilance. To illustrate these tensions, this chapter is based on two corpora which were built using the idea that liability is “the guiding principle of environmental law” (Ost, 1995). Indeed, this area’s legal innovation clashes with existing law and its terminology. The first part of this chapter looks at the evolution of the terminology of criminal responsibility in the provisions of three draft texts drawn up by lawyers campaigning for the introduction of the crime of ecocide into criminal law. The second part studies the evolution of the terminology of criminal liability in binding texts relating to marine pollution by oil discharges. The aim is to compare these two corpora and to make the hypothesis that “criminal response to environmental damage caused by oil spills” (Jaworski 2009) offers a powerful legislative framework for responding to calls for stricter repression of environmental crime as a whole.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements
- Contents VII
- Towards an integration of law and linguistics into the blue humanities 1
- Chapter 1 Understanding and researching legal genres and language within the maritime domain 13
- Chapter 2 The conceptualization of a legal status for marine environment through the evolution of terminology 41
- Chapter 3 Liability for environmental crimes: A comparative study of laws on ecocide and the prevention of oil discharge into the sea 65
- Chapter 4 Law of the sea, maritime law, and human rights applied to migration: Towards a common language? 97
- Chapter 5 Global vessel sharing agreements versus joint ventures: How do contractual provisions legally entitle contestable legal personality of shipping alliances? 147
- Chapter 6 Rhetorical analysis of agreement authority article in maritime agreements 171
- Chapter 7 To what extent is the translation equivalent: an exploration of terminological variation in English-Chinese translation of maritime law 201
- Index 223
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements
- Contents VII
- Towards an integration of law and linguistics into the blue humanities 1
- Chapter 1 Understanding and researching legal genres and language within the maritime domain 13
- Chapter 2 The conceptualization of a legal status for marine environment through the evolution of terminology 41
- Chapter 3 Liability for environmental crimes: A comparative study of laws on ecocide and the prevention of oil discharge into the sea 65
- Chapter 4 Law of the sea, maritime law, and human rights applied to migration: Towards a common language? 97
- Chapter 5 Global vessel sharing agreements versus joint ventures: How do contractual provisions legally entitle contestable legal personality of shipping alliances? 147
- Chapter 6 Rhetorical analysis of agreement authority article in maritime agreements 171
- Chapter 7 To what extent is the translation equivalent: an exploration of terminological variation in English-Chinese translation of maritime law 201
- Index 223
