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Course Syllabus
Course Contents
Chapter 1. Legal Bases
Lesson 1
Lesson 2
Lesson 3
Lesson 4
Chapter 2. Legal Tools
Lesson 5
Lesson 6
Lesson 7
Lesson 8
Lesson 9
Chapter 3. Enforcement
Lesson 10
Lesson 11
Lesson 12
Lesson 13
Chapter 4. Liability
Lesson 14
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2007 - 2008
Syllabus
Lesson 3. Sources of Legal Authority
In the previous two lessons we have briefly discussed the practice of environmental
health and the evolution of our legal system and laws. With this
background, as a referent, we will now turn to a more specific and
detailed examination of the sources, scope and limits of governmental
powers as they apply to the practice of environmental health. Since
this is a relatively extensive topic, we have divided it into two
parts. In this lesson we will focus our attention on the classifications
of law which provide the legal bases for the exercise of governmental
powers and on how these laws are translated into governmental authority.
In lesson 4 we define the scope and boundaries of, or limits to,
that authority. These, however, are arbitrary divisions made for
the sake of convenience. In practice, and as will be evident from
the material presented in this lesson, it is difficult to discuss
one without the other.
Lesson Objective
The objectives for this lesson are for you to be able to:
- Discuss the the scope
and limits of the powers of a regulatory agency in terms of its constitutional
and statutory mandates; and,
- Take the general concepts covered in
this lesson and apply them to the particular issues and situations
with which we will deal in
the others lessons in the course..
Lesson Assignment
- Grad: Chapter 3 -- Public Health as a Branch of Administrative Law,
pp. 27-36.
- Buck: Chapter 4 -- Legal Concepts in Environmental Law,
pp. 53-79.
- Statutes & Regulations:
- Readings:
- Reading #4 - Fletcher RL. Sources of Public and Environmental
Health Law in Washington, University of Washington,
1976.
- Reading #5 - Huntington v. State Water Commission,
73 S.E.2d 833 (1953).
- Reading #6 - Philadelphia
v. New Jersey, 437 U.S. 617 (1978).
- Reading #7 - Department
of Environmental Quality v. Chemical Waste, Storage and Disposal,
Inc.,
19 Ore 712
(1974).
Lesson Outline
- Administrative Law
- General Powers
- Types of Administrative Laws
- Statutes
- Ordinances
- Rules and Regulations
- Common Law
- Nuisances
- Trespass
Key Points
References / Additional Readings
- Gellhorn E, Levin RM. "Delegation of Authority to Agencies", Chapter 1 in Administrative Law and Process in a Nutshell, West Publishing
Co., 1990, pp. 8-34.
- Gellhorn E, Levin RM. "Rules and Rulemaking", Chapter 8 in Administrative Law and Process in a Nutshell, West Publishing
Co., 1990, pp. 309-352.
- Arbuckle, J. Gordon, et. al., "Fundamentals of Environmental Law", Ch. 1 in Environmental Law Handbook [6th Ed.], Governmental Institutes, Inc.,
Washington DC, 1979, pp. 1-53.
- Summers, Robert S. and Charles G.
Howard, Law: Its Nature, Functions, and Limits [3rd Ed.], Prentice-Hall,
Englewood Cliffs, 1972.
- Tobey, James A., Public Health Law, The
Commonwealth Fund, New York, 1949.
- Minnesota v. Clover Leaf Creamery,
101 S.Ct. 715 (1981).
- U.S. v. New York, 437 U.S. 617 (1978).
Progress Assessment Exercise
Please proceed to Lesson 4. Scope and Limits of Government Authority
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