Environmental Law

Overview

Course description

This course introduces the fundamentals of environmental law with a focus on sustainability and environmental justice. It begins with core legal principles and explores how the Canadian Constitution structures environmental governance across federal, provincial and Indigenous jurisdictions. The course examines the role of private (civil) law in addressing environmental harm and the tools governments use to regulate and enforce environmental protection, ranging from traditional regulation to economic and non-economic instruments. Throughout, students will critically assess how legal systems can both advance and hinder environmental justice. The course concludes by exploring the impact and responsibilities of individual citizens and grassroots groups in environmental stewardship and shaping sustainable outcomes.

Course content

1. Basic Concepts in Environmental Law

Pollution
Conservation
Sustainable Development
Biodiversity
Polluter-Pays Principle
Precautionary Principle

2. The Constitution and Environmental Law

The Canadian Constitution and the Environment
Federal Constitutional Authority
Provincial Constitutional Authority
Role of Municipalities
Role of Indigenous Persons and First Nations
Interjurisdictional Coordination
Constitutional Rights
Statute-based Rights
Common law Rights

3. Private Law Action to Protect the Environment

Civil Liability for Environmental Harm
Corporate Accountability for Environmental Harm
Financial Compensation for Environmental Harm
Remediation

4. Government Action to Protect the Environment I: Regulation, Prohibition and Prosecution

Environmental Regulations and Approvals
Administrative Compliance Mechanisms
Prosecutions

5. Government Action to Protect the Environment II: Economic Instruments

Tax Incentives
Non-tax Instruments
Public Spending and Environmental Funds

6. Government Action to Protect the Environment III: Non-Economic Instruments

Environmental Assessment
Protected Areas and Endangered Species
Toxic Substances
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Voluntary Measures

7. Environmental Law and the Citizen

Environmental Activism
Regulating Citizen Choices: Automobiles
The Environmentalist as Consumer

Learning activities

This course will employ several methods to accomplish its objectives and will include some of the following:

Lecture / seminar
In-class group work and discussion
Written assignments
Research projects
Audio-visual materials

Means of assessment

The evaluation will be based on the course objectives and in keeping with the Douglas College Evaluation policy. Students may be required to complete in-class examinations, presentations, written assignments and a comprehensive final examination.

Instructors may use a student's record of attendance and /or level of active participation in the course as part of the student's graded performance. Where this occurs, expectations and grade calculations regarding class attendance and participation will be clearly defined in the Instructor's Course Outline.

The instructor will provide a written course outline with specific evaluation requirements to the student at the beginning of the semester.

An example of one evaluation scheme:

Exam 1	20%
Exam 2	20%
Written Assignment	20%
Participation and Attendance	10%
Final Exam	30%
Total	100%

Learning outcomes

At the conclusion of the course the successful student will be able to:

Identify and discuss foundational concepts relevant to environmental law, including the polluter-pays principle and the precautionary principle.
Critically assess how legal systems can both advance and hinder environmental justice, including through historical case study.
Describe the allocation of constitutional responsibility for the environment, including the importance of Indigenous rights and responsibilities.
Demonstrate how private law mechanisms can be used to protect the environment.
Explain how governments use prohibitions, regulations and prosecutions to protect the environment.
Illustrate how governments use economic instruments to protect the environment.
Explain how governments use non-economic instruments to protect the environment.
Delineate the roles of individual citizens and grassroots groups in environmental protection.
Analyze and solve hypothetical environmental problems using legal concepts from the course.

Textbook materials

Textbooks and materials to be acquired by students. An example of required materials is:

Benidickson, Jamie. Environmental Law (Latest Edition). Toronto: Irwin Law.

Relevant federal and provincial legislation and case law.

Requisites

Prerequisites

CRIM 1160 or permission of the instructor.

Corequisites

No corequisite courses.

Equivalencies

No equivalent courses.

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

May 2026 (Current)

September 2016

September 2015

January 2012

Course Transfers to Other Institutions

Below are current transfer agreements from Douglas College to other institutions for the current course guidelines only. For a full list of transfer details and archived courses, please see the BC Transfer Guide.

Institution	Transfer details for CRIM 3320
Athabasca University (AU)	AU CRJS 420 (3)
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU)	KPU CRIM 3XXX (3)
Langara College (LANG)	LANG CRIM 2XXX (3)
Simon Fraser University (SFU)	SFU CRIM 3XX (3)
Thompson Rivers University (TRU)	TRU CRIM 3XXX (3)
Trinity Western University (TWU)	TWU HUMA 3XX (3)
University of British Columbia - Okanagan (UBCO)	UBCO SOCI_O 2nd (3)
University of the Fraser Valley (UFV)	UFV CRIM 3XX (3)
University of Victoria (UVIC)	UVIC ES 3XX (1.5)