This book follows the rise of the public trust doctrine – which obligates government to protect critical natural resources – from its ancient Roman origins to a modern force of environmental law. Focusing on California's enchanting Mono Lake, it tells the story of a group of everyday people who used the law to save it, spawning a legal revolution that reverberates globally. Their case pitted local advocates against thirsty Angelenos hundreds of miles away, in a dispute that stretches back to the dawn of Western water woes. Their story exemplifies the challenges of balancing legitimate needs for public infrastructure with competing environmental values, within systems of law still evolving to manage conflicting public and private rights in natural resources. Today, public trust principles infuse both common and constitutional law to protect water, wildlife, ecosystems, and climate – marrying sovereign obligations with environmental rights and raising open questions of legal theory, strategy, and meaning.
