In 2017 four rivers in Aotearoa New Zealand, India, and Colombia were given the status of legal persons, and there was a recent attempt to extend these rights to the Colorado River in the USA. Understanding the implications of creating legal rights for rivers is an urgent challenge for both water resource management and environmental law. Giving rivers legal rights means the law can see rivers as legal persons, thus creating new legal rights which can then be enforced. When rivers are legally people, does that encourage collaboration and partnership between humans and rivers, or establish rivers as another competitor for scarce resources? To assess what it means to give rivers legal rights and legal personality, this book examines the form and function of environmental water managers (EWMs). These organisations have legal personality, and have been active in water resource management for over two decades. EWMs operate by acquiring water rights from irrigators in rivers where there is insufficient water to maintain ecological health. EWMs can compete with farmers for access to water, but they can also strengthen collaboration between traditionally divergent users of the aquatic environment, such as environmentalists, recreational fishers, hunters, farmers, and hydropower. This book explores how EWMs use the opportunities created by giving nature legal rights, such as the ability to participate in markets, enter contracts, hold property, and enforce those rights in court. However, examination of the EWMs unearths a crucial and unexpected paradox: giving legal rights to nature may increase its legal power, but in doing so it can weaken community support for protecting the environment in the first place. The book develops a new conceptual framework to identify the multiple constructions of the environment in law, and how these constructions can interact to generate these unexpected outcomes. It explores EWMs in the USA and Australia as examples, and assesses the implications of creating legal rights for rivers for water governance. Lessons from the EWMs, as well as early lessons from the new ‘river persons,’ show how to use the law to improve river protection and how to begin to mitigate the problems of the paradox.

"Burke drills deep into America's unique culture of litigation and is rewarded with a powerful insight: it is not the public or even lawyers that are so darn litigious, but American law itself. This meticulous, dispassionate book stands not only to advance the debate but—I hope—to reshape it."—Jonathan Rauch, author of Government's End: Why Washington Stopped Working "Lawyers, Lawsuits, and Legal Rights is a fascinating study of the American penchant for public policies that rely on lawsuits to get things done. Burke's analysis is insightful and original. This book compellingly shows that litigious policies have deep roots in our Constitution, culture, and politics."—Charles Epp, author of The Rights Revolution: Lawyers, Activists, and Supreme Courts in Comparative Perspective "Burke's authoritative book demonstrates that the highly litigious American system is not an isolated anomaly but in fact fits in with deeply-rooted elements of American political culture. Where citizens of other countries rely on expert or bureaucratic judgment to resolve disputes, Americans turn to the courts. Equally novel and compelling, Lawyers, Lawsuits, and Legal Rights marshals an impressive set of evidence and delivers a refreshingly well-written look at the state of American litigation."—Frank R. Baumgartner, co-author of Agendas and Instability in American Politics

This criminal justice textbook concentrates on that area of corrections law that specifically concerns the legal rights of convicted offenders, whether they are incarcerated in prisons or jails or serving time in a community corrections program on probation or parole. It does not address other areas of law that also affect correctional officials such as employment or business law. Among the topics are sentencing, First Amendment rights of access to the courts and free expression, the use of force, the Eighth Amendment, jails and prisoner litigation and reform, and probation and parole. -- Publisher's description.

Richard Alderman, "The People's Lawyer," cuts through the jargon of the "legalese" and helps you protect yourself, your family, and your property. This book gives you practical, easy-to-understand answers to all kinds of everyday questions about divorce, child support, credit, bankruptcy, leases and tenant rights, small claims court, wills and probate, immigration, and much more. Now in its seventh edition, this popular guide uses a simple question and answer format to help you understand and solve many common legal problems. In addition, the author provides sample forms and model letters, including a living will, a medical power of attorney, and durable power of attorney.

The only book of its kind to examine all aspects of a young adult's legal rights at school, at work, and at home, including recent developments in teen-oriented legislation. Widespread Internet use and evolving privacy concerns compromise the legal rights of teenagers. While smart phones, social networking, and online music downloading pose new legal complications for teens and their parents to navigate, the Supreme Court has grappled with rights concerning every aspect of a young adult's life long before now. This newly updated text, written in accessible language and presented through an informal FAQ format, simplifies the laws, rights, and constitutional implications affecting young people today. In an easy-to-understand, non-intimidating style, First Amendment scholar David L. Hudson Jr. provides an authoritative analysis of the judicial system, utilizing actual court cases and legal arguments to help teens better understand their rights under the law. Additionally, the text presents recent changes and interpretations of legal areas still in debate. This third edition features an updated examination of recent topics that includes cyberbullying, "sexting," social media privacy, and illegal downloads of online content.