Civil liability for environmental damage : a comparative study between Jordanian and English legal systems

Abstract

As environmental degradation continues to grow and presents fatal misfortunes to humankind and nature, efforts have been made to prevent and restore environmental damage as well as compensate its victims. A considerable debate was launched to discuss and figure out how this problem could be best handled. In the centre of this debate was the role of the law and its potential application to protect the environment and compensate victims of environmental damage. A critical question in this context was the role of civil liability. This thesis attempts to investigate the role and application of civil liability rules in environmental damage cases both in the UK and Jordan. The significance of this study lies in the fact that the UK is considered to be the mother of the common law system where courts play a crucial role in forming and revising the law, whereas Jordan follow the Latin or civil law system where the role of courts assimilates in applying the applicable law to cases brought before it. This thesis consists of six chapters through which, the issue of civil liability has been examined where environmental damage is in question. This analysis is made in the hope that it will reveal the different aspects of efficiency and deficiency attached to tort law when used to remediate environmental damage and compensate its victims. The thesis reveals that, civil liability as it stands now does not fit in an environmental context, and there will be an urgent need for reform whether in adapting traditional rules of civil liability to cope with the complications involved in environmental damage cases, or to abandon traditional civil liability rules, and introduce a liability regime to handle the issue of restoration and compensation in environmental damage cases.