Sustainability in the Real Property Law Curriculum: Why and How

Abstract

Traditionally considered the preserve of environmental law, for the lawyer and the legal academic, sustainability does not immediately come to mind in considering the subjects of the core curriculum. Yet in light of the contemporary imperative to deal with serious ecological decline and its social and economic implications, a law degree that fails to engage with issues of sustainability will not equip students to grapple with these issues. Instead, graduates will emerge with a discipline knowledge rooted in the modes of thought of the past. This paper presents a way of understanding sustainability as a broader context for the study of law. Using the example of land law, it mounts an argument for adopting a sustainability education approach to curriculum design in law. Finally, it offers a case study of how land law might be taught within the broader context of sustainability.