Landscape, law and justice – concepts and issues

摘要

This essay presents some of the highlights of the discussions of the Landscape, Law & Justice Research Group at the Centre for Advanced Study at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, Oslo, during the academic year 2002–2003. Based on a series of seminars, workshops and conferences, and resultant literature, the essay summarizes the deliberations of the group on matters concerning landscape, custom and law, justice and just environments, language and landscape, old and new commons, and natural and cultural heritage. Unifying themes are historical concepts of landscape, continuity and change in the landscape, and legal implications and landscape impacts of environmental policies. Law, including customary law, is significant for the shaping of landscape; the earliest meaning of the term `landscape' is linked to the role of legal institutions. Law and landscape are in turn both shaped by conceptions of justice, as well as by contestations over what is considered just and unjust in different societies.