Search Results (18)

The punitive damages framework for environmental torts is vital for addressing the global ecological crisis and the challenges of environmental governance in China. This system compensates for shortcomings in traditional compensatory damages, intensifies penalties for egregious violators, and fosters ecological sustainability. Current research in China predominantly focuses on theoretical aspects, including the institutional nature, claimant eligibility, and constituent elements, yet there is a notable lack of comprehensive studies on the specific rules governing punitive damages. This study employs various methodologies, including literature analysis, comparative legal text review, case studies, and insights from comparative law, to systematically explore pathways for reforming these principles. The findings underscore that defining the private law nature of the issue clarifies its application scope and facilitates the coordination with criminal and administrative liabilities. A calculation method based on multiples of actual losses can standardize judicial discretion. Furthermore, distinguishing between the management of damages in private environmental interest litigation and civil public interest litigation can both incentivize rights protection and ensure funds are available for remediation efforts. The establishment of a scientifically driven offset mechanism effectively prevents overlapping penalties and improves enforcement coordination. Full article

Because auditors have access to corporate information, a firm’s decision to protect material trade secrets should, in principle, not influence audit effort. We analyze the effects of trade secrecy protection on the audit fees, documenting that firms with redacted information pay significantly higher fees than those that do not redact information. In cross-sectional tests, we further document that the relationship between redaction and audit fees is significantly influenced by both auditor and client characteristics. Consistent with the premise that redaction increases the complexity of the audit—particularly if auditors view redacted disclosures as indicators of potential business or litigation risk—the regression results indicate that the main effect is moderated by auditor factors such as specialization, tenure, and quality, as well as client factors like existing relationships, bargaining power, and reporting quality. These insights contribute to ongoing discussions in audit policy by illustrating how confidential disclosure practices affect audit effort and costs. Overall, our results inform policymakers seeking to reconcile firms’ proprietary information protection with public interest in transparent and credible financial reporting. Full article

This article examines the historical evolution, contemporary dynamics, and future trajectory of China’s legal and judicial framework for pangolin protection. By reviewing over seventy years of regulatory changes, case law, and policy implementation, it outlines three distinct phases: the early emphasis on pangolins as medicinal and export resources (1949–1989); the phase of conflicted protection and utilization under regulatory expansion (1989–2020); and the post-2020 shift toward judicial activism and ecological civil litigation. We then highlight the long-standing contradiction between legislative protection and continued medicinal use, particularly the centuries-old use of pangolins and their derivatives in traditional Chinese medicine, a practice still acknowledged within certain state policies and regulatory frameworks, showing how these inconsistencies enabled persistent illegal exploitation despite regulatory controls. Through systematic analysis of public court records and case databases, the policy historical records reveal a marked increase in environmental public interest litigation since 2020. These lawsuits, often attached to criminal prosecutions, signal a transition from merely punitive approaches to restorative ones—anchored in ecological valuation of species and their services. Case studies illustrate how courts now impose not only wildlife resource loss fees, but also punitive damages and compensation for ecological service function loss. The article will elaborate in detail on the distinctions and interrelations among these types of compensation. The landmark Case No.17 also demonstrates this paradigm shift, wherein courts recognized pangolins’ role in balancing forest ecosystems. However, significant challenges persist. Valuation methodologies lack uniform standards; while the ecological value of pangolins has been recognized, their inherent value as individuals has not been emphasized within the legal system; judicial discretion varies across jurisdictions; and public interest organizations remain underutilized in litigation. Moreover, while the crackdown on organized crime succeeded in curbing mass trafficking, smaller-scale violations tied to cultural consumption for medicine use persist. The article concludes that judicial innovations, such as ecological judicial restoration bases and integration into China’s draft Ecological Environment Code, offer promising pathways forward. To enhance efficacy, it calls for standardization in ecological valuation, strengthened civil society participation, and nuanced differentiation in penal strategies between minor and serious offenses. This study ultimately positions judicial reform as the cornerstone of China’s evolving pangolin conservation strategy. Full article

The ongoing degradation of global forests has severely weakened ecosystem service functions, and traditional judicial remedies have struggled to quantify intangible ecological losses. China has become an important testing ground for restorative justice through the establishment of specialized environmental courts and the practice of environmental public interest litigation. Since 2015, China has actively explored and institutionalized the application of the concept of restorative justice in its environmental justice reform. This concept emphasizes compensating environmental damages through actual ecological restoration acts rather than relying solely on financial compensation. This shift reflects a deep understanding of the limitations of traditional environmental justice and an institutional response to China’s ecological civilization construction, providing critical support for forest ecosystem restoration and enabling ecological restoration activities, such as replanting and re-greening, habitat reconstruction, etc., to be enforced through judicial decisions. This study conducts a qualitative analysis of judicial rulings in forest restoration cases to systematically evaluate the effectiveness of restorative justice in compensating for losses in forest ecosystem service functions. The findings reveal the following: (1) restoration measures in judicial practice are disconnected from the types of ecosystem services available; (2) non-market values and long-term cumulative damages are systematically underestimated, with monitoring mechanisms exhibiting fragmented implementation and insufficient effectiveness; (3) management cycles are set in violation of ecological restoration principles, and acceptance standards lack function-oriented indicators; (4) participation of key stakeholders is severely lacking, and local knowledge and professional expertise have not been integrated. In response, this study proposes a restorative judicial framework oriented toward forest ecosystem services, utilizing four mechanisms: independent recognition of legal interests, function-matched restoration, application of scientific assessment tools, and multi-stakeholder collaboration. This framework aims to drive a paradigm shift from formal restoration to substantive functional recovery, providing theoretical support and practical pathways for environmental judicial reform and global forest governance. Full article

The Guangdong Province is rich in waterways, including those of the Pearl River. The entire watershed of the Pearl River system spans the territory of six provinces. Considering the overarching objective of building a ‘beautiful Bay Area’ under the guidance of Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as well as the ecological problems that span over river basins and regions in Guandong Province, public interest litigation is a useful tool in protecting the environment. Analyzing 95 first-instance (trial) judgements handed down in Guangdong Province between 2018 and 2021, we sought to evaluate public interest litigation as a means of safeguarding aquatic ecology in the Greater Bay Area (GBA), China. Cases were categorized for: firstly, their approach to determining the extent of ecological damage; secondly, the procedure used for receiving and auditing restorative compensation; thirdly, the collaboration between the court and government departments in the management and use of restorative compensation; and fourthly, the collaborative ‘public–private’ supervision utilized to monitor the implementation of restorative compensation and actual restoration. Our insights are intended to provide guidance for cooperative opportunities in the large transregional water systems and offshore areas of mainland China. Full article

Land public interest litigation (LPIL) has emerged as a vital mechanism for addressing China’s land crisis. It serves dual purposes: mitigating the tragedy of the commons and safeguarding the legitimate rights of vulnerable groups reliant on land. Over the past decade, China’s LPIL framework has evolved significantly, with enhanced legislation and consistent judicial practices contributing to the prevention of further land degradation. However, an empirical analysis of 208 LPIL cases reveals a judiciary-led litigation model, with procuratorial bodies initiating 94.71% of cases, while non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and individuals account for only 3.85% and 0%, respectively. This narrow plaintiff base, coupled with significant regional disparities—74.52% of cases concentrated in the top ten provinces—and a mere 25% filing rate for administrative cases, limits the system’s effectiveness. These constraints hinder vulnerable groups’ ability to protect their rights and obscure systemic issues underlying efficient operations. To advance LPIL, China must expand plaintiff eligibility, empower NGOs, and clarify departmental boundaries. These reforms can enhance land governance, ensure equitable resource management, and contribute to sustainable development. Full article

Previous studies have generally concluded that public participation lacks substantive constraints and has weak environmental regulation effects. Using China’s environmental public interest litigation (EPIL), implemented in 2015, as a quasi-natural experiment to verify the environmental effects of public participation under judicial norms, the difference-in-differences (DID) estimates in this paper show that industrial wastewater and industrial sulfur dioxide (SO₂) emissions in the treated cities declined by an average of 2.76 million tons and 2.51 kilotons per year, respectively, which ultimately improved the city’s environmental quality. The results of the mechanism also show that the EPIL was able to mobilize all three parties: the public, government and enterprises. In the context of the environment as an externality product, where the interests of all the parties are difficult to coordinate, the EPIL has the advantage of overcoming conflicts of interest. Our study provides a quantitative justification for the environmental impact assessment of public litigation and contributes empirical references to overcome the weak binding defect of public participatory environmental regulation. Full article

The environmental problems caused by carbon emission have become the focus of worldwide attention. Effective control of carbon emissions cannot be achieved without the protection of the rule of law. Environment public interests litigation is a prominent innovation in the judicial system, and its role in supervising the government to perform its regulatory duties on carbon reduction and regulating the carbon emission behaviors of enterprises and the public deserves discussion. The paper selected the panel data from 274 prefecture-level cities from 2013 to 2021 and analyzed the impact of a procuratorial public interest litigation pilot policy on carbon emission control by using the double difference method. The research found that the procuratorial public interest litigation pilot policy can effectively curb carbon emissions. Heterogeneity analysis showed that in cities with relatively low level of green innovation, the negative correlation between procuratorial public interest litigation pilot policies and carbon emissions is more significant. Compared with the eastern region, in the central and western regions, especially in the central region, where the concept, policy, and funding of carbon emission governance are relatively weak, the implementation of the pilot policy of procuratorial public interest litigation had a more obvious effect on carbon emission governance. Mechanism tests showed that procuratorial public interest litigation policies reduce carbon emissions by reducing energy consumption and increasing public participation in environmental protection. The study will provide an empirical basis for the carbon emission reduction effect on pilot policy of procuratorial public interest litigation and will offer certain theoretical recommendations for improving the procuratorial public interest litigation system in the ecological environment field. Full article

Under the background of China’s strategy of becoming a powerful agricultural country, geographical indications (GIs) of agricultural products, as an important intellectual property right to enable Chinese agriculture to develop with high quality, have a strong effect of strengthening and promoting agriculture. However, there are a large number of infringements of GIs among agricultural products in judicial practice, which not only greatly damage the economic and social values of GIs of agricultural products, but also bring huge food safety hazards to consumers and hinder the overall protection of intellectual property rights in China. On this basis, this paper, with the help of a quasi-case research method, integrates the facts of relevant cases, the focus of disputes, the application of law, and other case elements to realize the case similarity judgment based on the legal argumentation model. With the help of the retrieval tool of “Peking University Magic Weapon”, this paper provides statistics on the civil cases of infringement of GIs of agricultural products in China from 1 January 2014 to 31 July 2022 and sets different retrieval conditions for two searches. After two screenings, 245 valid samples were obtained, and the judicial patterns of infringement disputes over GIs of agricultural products in China were systematically sorted out from the distribution of plaintiff and defendant, the distribution of infringement types, the basis of adjudication, and the standard of compensation. It was found that the plaintiff types showed double simplification, the infringement types took edge infringement as the basic form, and the general trademark provisions occupied the main position in legal applications. Then, the main litigation points, such as the dispute over the identification of GIs of agricultural products, the dispute over the use of geographical names, and the dispute over tort liability, are summarized, so as to dig out the characteristics of the implicitness of infringement, the expectation of implementation, and the concreteness of aspects. On this basis, the regulatory path of the infringement of GIs of agricultural products is put forward, such as introducing procuratorial public interest litigation, multi-agents cooperating to implement all-round supervision, and reasonably determining the amount of damages. Full article

Since “ecological civilization” was written into the constitution, China has continuously strengthened ecological and environmental protection and innovatively established an environmental public interest litigation system. However, China’s current environmental public interest litigation system is not sound, especially since the types and scope of environmental public interest litigation are unclear, which is the core problem we aim to solve. To explore the types of environmental public interest litigation in China and the possibility of expanding new fields, we first used the normative analysis method to review the legislation of environmental public interest litigation in China and then conducted an empirical analysis of 215 judgment documents of environmental public interest litigation in China, and we concluded that the legal types and scope of application of environmental public interest litigation in China are constantly expanding. To reduce environmental pollution and ecological damage as much as possible, we argue that China should further expand the application of environmental administrative public interest litigation to improve the environmental civil public interest litigation system and adhere to the criteria of “behavior standards first, result standards second” and “prevention first, recovery second”. At the same time, through the internal connection mechanism between procuratorial suggestions and environmental administrative public interest litigation, the external cooperation between environmental organizations, procuratorates, and environmental administrative departments should be strengthened, and a new mechanism for environmental public interest litigation should be established and improved to accumulate useful experience in the judicial protection of China’s ecological environment. Full article

There are two options for environmental tort remedy in China: resorting to environmental administration or environmental justice, with an ongoing debate over which of the two should lead. Firstly, it compares the structure of China’s environmental tort remedy system and the two types of power: administrative power and judicial power, concluding that administrative power is dominant. Then, it argues for the indispensability of judicial power, attempts to find a clear boundary between the two sides, and justifies their mutual division of labor and collaboration. Through sufficient demonstration, it clarifies why the dominant position of environmental administrative power must be guaranteed. Then, it summarizes the experience of other countries and the practice of environmental protection in China; and provides three innovative paths of the future environmental rights remedy system. These three aspects are setting up a review procedure for administrative priority judgment before filing an environmental lawsuit, establishing the independent position of experts in environmental litigation, advocating a risk communication mechanism other than litigation, and providing a richer institutional guarantee for the relief of environmental rights. Full article

Conflicts of interest (COI) are an integral part of human society, including their influence on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change. Individuals or entities often have multiple interests ranging from financial benefits to reducing climate change-related risks, where choosing one interest may negatively impact other interests and societal welfare. These types of COI require specific management strategies. This study examines COI from land-use decisions as an intersection of different perspectives on land use (e.g., land conservation versus land development), which can have various consequences regarding GHG emissions. This study uses the state of New Jersey (NJ) in the United States of America (USA) as a case study to demonstrate COI related to soil-based GHG emissions from land conversions between 2001 and 2016 which caused $722.2M (where M = million = 10⁶) worth of “realized” social costs of carbon dioxide (SC-CO₂) emissions. These emissions are currently not accounted for in NJ’s total carbon footprint (CF), which can negatively impact the state’s ability to reach its carbon reduction goals. The state of NJ Statutes Annotated 26:2C-37 (2007): Global Warming Response Act (GWRA) (updated in 2019) set a statewide goal of reducing GHG emissions to 80 percent below 2006 levels by 2050. Remote sensing and soil data analysis allow temporal and quantitative assessment of the contribution of land cover conversions to NJ’s CF by soil carbon type, soil type, land cover type, and administrative units (state, counties), which helps document past, and estimate future related GHG emissions using a land cover change scenario to calculate the amount of GHG emissions if an area of land was to be developed. Decisions related to future land conversions involve potential COI within and outside state administrative structures, which could be managed by a conflict-of-interest policy. The site and time-specific disclosures of GHG emissions from land conversions can help governments manage these COI to mitigate climate change impacts and costs by assigning financial responsibility for specific CF contributions. Projected sea-level rise will impact 16 out of 21 NJ’s counties and it will likely reach coastal areas with densely populated urban areas throughout NJ. Low proportion of available public land limits opportunities for relocation. Increased climate-change-related damages in NJ and elsewhere will increase the number of climate litigation cases to alleviate costs associated with climate change. This litigation will further highlight the importance and intensity of different COI. Full article

Cases of marine environmental pollution (MEP), such as condensate leakage in the Sanchi case, not only directly infringe on private personal health and property rights, but also cause serious damage to the marine ecological environment. This paper analyzes dozens of MEP cases and summarizes the typical rights, interests, and remedies under Chinese law. Traditional tort liability legislation remedies the problem of infringement of private interests by environmental torts through compensation and punitive damages but it cannot reverse the damage to the marine ecological environment. Traditional civil legislation is built on the basis of rights and interests regarding damages and relief. MEP infringes on a wide range of citizens’ environmental rights and should be addressed by the environmental public interest litigation (EPIL), which is an important way to protect citizens’ environmental rights. This paper analyzes the legal interests, relief measures, and limitations of the existing EPIL legislation that is applicable to MEP cases under Chinese law, so as to make corresponding legislative suggestions. Full article

South Africa has used intermittent alcohol prohibitions and restrictions as a strategy to relieve hospitals of alcohol-related trauma cases and spare services for COVID-19 caseloads. Alcohol regulation is highly contested and involves a diverse range of actors who influence policies to align with their interests. This study sought to examine the strategies used by these actors to shape the COVID-19 related alcohol regulation in South Africa as presented by online news media. We found that the voice of pro-regulation actors is smaller and fragmented compared to opponents of the regulation as each actor seeks to advance their own interests. Despite the regulations initially being framed as a COVID-19 public health measure, pro-regulation government ministries, such as police and transport, perceive the regulations as a way of reducing existing (pre-pandemic) alcohol-related harm, such as crime, road-traffic injuries, and gender-based violence. The pre-existing failures in the alcohol regulatory environment and the current policy momentum created by COVID-19 could present an opportunity to retain components of the new laws and improve alcohol regulation in South Africa. However, there is a dominant and cohesive alcohol industry voice that strongly opposes the regulations, citing economic impacts, illicit trade and lack of evidence on the positive effects of the alcohol bans. Strategies employed by industry include lobbying, framing, and litigation. The regulations implemented under the guise of COVID-19 prevention have presented valuable lessons for alcohol regulation more generally. However, whether these regulations translate to sustainable policy changes will depend upon how and if the strong industry voice is countered. Full article

This article is written around the time a Dutch court ordered the corporate group Shell to cut its carbon emissions by 2030. The aim of the article is to contribute to the conceptualisation of the phenomenon this judgement unveils in terms of greening human rights litigation supported by the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). It addresses, firstly, how claiming the protection of the Earth before courts is occurring in a highly fragmented legal, economic and social context as a way to overcome the multiple obstacles flagged by the literature on the UNGPs. Secondly, it assesses how human rights litigation seeking global justice has evolved in waves with common trends, such as activism from social actors and courts that rely on arguments based on progressive soft law. Thirdly, it identifies two trends in the current wave of green litigation: the anthropocentric perspective that claims the protection of the Earth in the public interest and the ecocentric perspective that claims autonomous rights for Mother Earth. Finally, the article flags some gaps in this third wave of human rights litigation, particularly the risk of disregarding the third pillar of the UNGPs: access to an effective remedy for marginalised communities that are not aware of these ongoing developments. Full article