Climate Change Litigation: Vulnerable Children and a Duty of Care

• Authors: Francine Rochford

Title variants

PL

Spory sądowe dotyczące zmian klimatycznych: bezbronne dzieci i obowiązek opieki

Abstracts

PL

W artykule rozważane jest orzecznictwo odnoszące się do zmian klimatu w kontekście narracji eschatologicznych możliwej katastrofy ekologicznej. Skoncentrowano się w szczególności na koncepcjach winy, krzywdy i odpowiedzialności, które w analizowanych narracjach są przywoływane jako powód do oburzenia na wybryki współczesnego kapitalizmu, przy jednoczesnym wykorzystaniu obrazu dziecka jako niewinnego uczestnika nadchodzącej apokalipsy. Przeanalizowano też narrację skarżących w australijskiej sprawie sądowej Sharma by her litigation representative Sister Marie Brigid Arthur v Minister for the Environment [2021] FCA 560 (Sharma 1), wedle której „niewyobrażalna wcześniej moc” (previously unimaginable power) powodowania potencjalnego „kataklizmu krzywd” (cataclysmal harm) wobec „bezbronnych dzieci” (Vulnerable Children) miała stworzyć obowiązek opieki nad nimi. Skarżący wygrali sprawę w pierwszej instancji, ale w apelacji (Minister for the Environment v Sharma [2022] FCAFC 35 (Sharma 2) uchylono tę decyzję. Autorka przyjmuje podejście interdyscyplinarne, czerpie z filozofii, psychologii i teologii, a także prawa; w artykule skupia się na obecności tradycji judeochrześcijańskiej i analizuje ideę „winy” i czynu zaniedbania oraz techniki stosowane do wspierania moralnych konotacji winy w narracji sądowej. W szczególności koncentruje się na obecnej w chrześcijańskiej eschatologii teologii nadziei, reakcjach na antycypację narracji o katastrofalnych zmianach klimatu oraz na koncepcji winy. Rozważa psychologiczne wymiary „nadziei” i „rozpaczy” jako kategorii wywyższonych w teologicznych podejściach do apokalipsy oraz reifikację doktryn rozpaczy w udowadnianiu szkód w prawie zaniedbania.

EN

This article considers climate change jurisprudence in the context of other eschatological narratives developing the theme of ecological catastrophe. It focusses in particular on concepts of fault, harm and responsibility, referents in case narratives, as expounding a sense of outrage at the excesses of modern capitalism, and the converse use of the child as the party innocent of all agency in the upcoming apocalypse. The article analyses the narrative developed by the applicants in an Australian case, Sharma by her litigation representative Sister Marie Brigid Arthur v Minister for the Environment [2021] FCA 560 (Sharma 1), in which the “previously unimaginable power” to cause potentially “cataclysmal harm” to “Vulnerable Children” created a duty to those children. The applicants were successful at first instance, but an appeal (Minister for the Environment v Sharma [2022] FCAFC 35 (Sharma 2) reversed this decision. Taking an interdisciplinary approach and drawing upon approaches of philosophy, psychology and theology as well as law, this article considers the idea of “fault” in the tort of negligence and the techniques used to support the moral connotations of fault in the case narrative. In particular, it reflects on the contribution of the Judeo-Christian tradition to this fault narrative. It focusses in particular on the theology of hope in Christian eschatology, responses to anticipation of catastrophic climate change narratives, and the concept of fault in those narratives. It considers the psychological dimensions of “hope” and “despair” as illuminated in theological approaches to apocalyptic views, and the reification of doctrines of despair in proving damages in the law of negligence.

Keywords

PL

zmiana klimatu; wina; filozofia prawa

EN

climate change; fault; legal philosophy

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Slawistyki PAN
• Journal: Colloquia Humanistica
• Year: 2022
• Issue: 11
• Pages: 1-21

Dates

published

2022

Contributors

author

Francine Rochford

• La Trobe University, Bendigo

• https://orcid.org/0000000329764373

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Identifiers

DOI

10.11649/ch.2670

Biblioteka Nauki

31339681