Should Trees Have Standing?: And Other Essays on Law, Morals and the Environment Book

This treatise was originally published in 1972 and immediately became a rallying point of the then nascent U.S. environmental movement and has since become a classic worldwide. Professor Stone points out that at various periods throughout history certain "things" were regarded as legally rightless, including aliens, children and women. Although each successive movement to confer rights on some theretofore rightless "entity" has first appeared "odd or frightening or laughable," the progress of the law, and of morals, has been to invite more and more members into an ever-widening community. Professor Stone proceeds to argue for a further widening by proposing that special guardians be empowered to speak for the voiceless elements in Nature: in effect, to give "legal standing" to endangered species and threatened forests. The author has also provided a new Introduction and Epilogue.Read More