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Trusted by generations of students and academics alike, Environmental Law continues to provide, in its ninth edition, broad and comprehensive coverage of the key topics taught on most environmental law courses, explaining the subject in its social and political context, and considering both UK, EU, and international perspectives. Known for its clear structure and systematic approach, the book considers topics by theme and by sector, allowing more experienced readers to explore the intricacies of the subject while also providing a logical introduction for those new to environmental law or without a legal background. A clear and easy-to-understand writing style helps ensure readers are informed yet not overwhelmed, while useful diagrams and tables help to explain complex points. The new edition also features case studies, information boxes, and self-test questions to help draw out key points and consolidate your learning in preparation for assessments and further research. New to this edition are: discussions of the potential impact of Brexit on UK environmental law; an additional chapter discussing the regulation of new technologies, such as ‘fracking’; coverage of important cases such as Coventry v. Lawrence on nuisance, Walton, Champion, and the HS2 decision on environmental assessment, the ClientEarth air pollution litigation and the ICJ’s decision in Costa Rica v. Nicaragua; analysis of the Paris Agreement and other recent climate change developments; analysis of the new EIA Directive; discussion on the new sentencing guidelines; and enhanced coverage of the latest developments in respect to costs of litigation and the role of courts, the Aarhus Convention, and environmental rights.

In this paper we explore one type of commons – town and village greens – which are an important feature of the rural and, increasingly, the urban, English landscape. Greens are an ancient form of commons, but they are increasingly recognised as having contemporary significance, particularly because of their potential to act as a reservoir for natural resources and their enjoyment. They are, in other words, emerging out of a ‘feudal box’. We focus on the fact that town and village greens are recognised in law by their association with a group of people defined by their physical proximity to the land which is to be registered. Although this does not in itself constitute a community, the law requires for the registration of land as a town or village green a certain degree of organisation and self-selection and this has in the past fostered both a sense of subjective belief in ‘belonging’, as well as exclusion (the rights of local people being potentially ‘diluted’ by the use of the land by those from outside the locality). As well as helping to produce and recognise community and community identity, then, commons may simultaneously produce the conditions for disassociation and exclusion. In this context, we consider how law defines and upholds notions of locality, and also the ways in which an increasingly powerful environmental discourse might be seen to challenge the primacy given to locality as a way of defining and creating greens and, more generally, the practical effects of this on how decisions are made about preserving these spaces as ‘common’. We consider the scope of the public trust doctrine as providing an example of how law is capable of accommodating ideas of shared nature and natural resources, in this case providing a form of public ownership over natural resources. Whilst our analysis is rooted firmly in the law relating to town and village greens in England and Wales, this body of law displays certain important features more broadly applicable to a range of other types of common land, and raises more general issues about how law supports certain interests in land, often to the exclusion of others.

The Royal T ables are given show ing the publication dates and a su m m ary of the contents of P lan tae P reissianae (ed. J.G .C . L eh m an n ) 1844-1848 (pp. 12-15). Som e fu rth e r d ata a bout his collections are provided in letters from Preiss to W illiam H o o k e r and to R o b e rt Brow n. T h e a u th o r w ould be pleased to lea rn fro m anyone w ho know s th e present locatio n fo r P reiss's p la n t specim ens N os. 2 6 21-2644, m any being types w hich h ave not been seen in recen t years.Johann August Ludwig Preiss was bom in Herzberg am H arz near Gottingen on 21 November 1811.In a paper on Lehm ann's Plantae Preissianae, Steam (1939) 204-205 provides the following information about Preiss's years in Germany:" T h a t he received a university education is show n by his degree of D r, phil. In A ugust 1843, w hen he w as a "P riv at-g eleh rter in H a m b u rg " , i.e. a scholar not on the staff of an institution, he becam e a m em ber of the A cadem ia C aesarea L eo poldino-C arolina N a tu rae C u rio so ru m at H alle under the cognom en of " C u n n in g h am " (cf. J.D . The most recent biographical note on Preiss [Calaby (1967)] provides no further information about these years.Preiss arrived in Fremantle, Western Australia, on 4th December 1838, shortly after his 27th birthday, and during the following three years worked enthusiastically and carefully to amass a fine botanical collection which together with those made by James Drummond (1 7 8 4 -1 8 6 3 ), forms the basis for early taxonomic studies on the flora of that State.A general summary of his collecting itinerary is given by Diels (1906) [translation]:"Preiss dedicated the entire first year to collecting in the vicinity of the Swan R iver, as w ell as collecting the litto ral flora n e a r F re m a n tle and (in the com pany of D ru m m o n d ) on R o ttn est Island. In the P e rth d istrict he collected widely, going as far east as the foothills of the D arlin g Range. It was n o t until S eptem ber 1839 that he clim bed the p late au and explored the forests on either side of the highw ay, w hich he follow ed as fa r as Y ork. H e soon re tu rn e d , how ever, and in N ov em b er and D ecem ber o f the sam e year he visited the area around G eographe Bay, pen etratin g as fa r as the present-day tow n of B usselton. In M arch of the next year h e crossed the D a rlin g R ange again, travelling as far as the A von Valley. H ere he prep ared fo r an im p o rta n t journey into the