Book reviews

It is 25 years since my Air, Noise, Water and Waste: A Summary of the Law in Scotland was published. Roughly A5, the un-footnoted text was 189 pages at 12 point. Mark Poustie’s volume runs to 885 pages of 12 point text and 10 point footnotes in trade paperback size. He acknowledges a number of named research assistants and co-writers for two sections. Even with help, to have mastered the volume of material now involved in the title and to have written it up readably is a major achievement. To present it in a manner which is both useful for teaching and a resource for solving an actual problem is to bring off a high left and low right, if a reference to grouse shooting may be considered acceptable in the context.

Environmental law has become a known category in the last quarter of a century. This volume includes matters such as water that were separate topics in the original Stair Encyclopaedia. That is to the good. It reflects the progress from a piecemeal approach to the environment to the now-dominant integrated approach. It also reflects the replacement of private law remedies by public law duties and powers as the normal way to deal with environmental problems, this development usefully allowing anticipatory as well as corrective action. Indeed para 1 acknowledges that much of the focus of the volume is on legislative regimes and considerations of public law.

In addition a good deal of international law of one kind and another is now relevant in the area, and this is sketched where appropriate. I could have wished for fuller citation of some of that, but there speaks an academic. The interaction of the various layers from international treaty and “soft law” through the EU and Westminster to Holyrood is well indicated.

There are 11 sections to the title: Introduction; Industrial Pollution Controls; Air; Water; Waste; Contaminated Land; Radioactive and Other Hazardous Substances; Statutory Nuisance; Noise; Heritage Conservation; and Marine Pollution. Matters such as “normal” nuisance and water supply are elsewhere in the Encyclopaedia, and there is good cross-reference to other relevant titles.

Writing on the environment is like going surfing. The law is stated as at 31 March 2006 with later developments noted where possible. Some of the content is therefore now obsolescent or out of date. I noticed, for example, the numerous “repealed subject to transition provisions” in Water. The number of instances of “inserted by” a later Act indicates another problem for the unwary who venture into environmental law – the case for regular enactment of a clean text of amended statutes is clamant.

To do any law well you need to understand it, so this is a welcome title. It is a teaching instrument. It is a good place to start to solve a client’s problem, and it will be a resource for environmental campaigners.