Sonam Gordhan (UCL) - 2019-20 Students
S.gordhan@ucl.ac.uk

Exploring the Institutional Foundations of Climate Change Litigation

This project explores the different ways that the institutional foundations of courts are implicated in climate change legal disputes. Through the lens of common law theory, I show that there are multiple dimensions of courts’ adjudicative capacity that are under pressure due to the nature of climate legal problems, including courts’ constitutional competence, the doctrine of precedent and doing justice between parties. I use collective case studies to illustrate and explain how these essential features of courts as legal institutions are under pressure in light of disputes that arise due to climate change.

Primary supervisor: Prof. Eloise Scotford, UCL