Fisher, Douglas --- "Common law and public domain approaches to water governance – an Australian perspective" [2017] ELECD 1471; in Hollo, J. Erkki (ed), "Water Resource Management and the Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 21

Book Title: Water Resource Management and the Law

Editor(s): Hollo, J. Erkki

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781785369827

Section: Chapter 1

Section Title: Common law and public domain approaches to water governance – an Australian perspective

Author(s): Fisher, Douglas

Number of pages: 47

Abstract/Description:

Water in its natural location has traditionally been regarded as a common resource to be used for the benefit of the community in question. The function of legal rules has been to grant access to the resource: for example, by the conferment of individual rights of access according to the common law or by the grant of such rights according to an institutionalized administrative system. In Australia the legacy of the common law favoured the common law riparian doctrine. The recognition of the unique environmental and climatic conditions in Australia influenced the development during the twentieth century of a public domain regime. This chapter analyzes these developments in Australia in the context of their wider doctrinal context. Keywords: Chapter 1 (Fisher): Common Resource, Roman law, Chinese law, public domain regime, riparian doctrine, Australian water law