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National Audubon Society V. Superior Court
''National Audubon Society v. Superior Court'' (Supreme Court of California, 1983, ) was a key case in California highlighting the conflict between the public trust doctrine and appropriative water rights. The Public Trust Doctrine is based on the principle that certain resources (such as navigable waters) are too valuable to be privately owned and must remain available for public use. In ''National Audubon Society v. Superior Court,'' the court held that the public trust doctrine restricts the amount of water that can be withdrawn from navigable waterways. The basis for the Public Trust Doctrine goes back to Roman law. Under Roman law, the air, the rivers, the sea and the seashore were incapable of private ownership; they were dedicated to the use of the public. In essence, the public trust doctrine establishes the role of the state as having trustee environmental duties owed to the public that are subsequently enforceable by the public. There is judicial recognition of this, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Non-profit Organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in contrast with an entity that operates as a business aiming to generate a profit for its owners. A nonprofit is subject to the non-distribution constraint: any revenues that exceed expenses must be committed to the organization's purpose, not taken by private parties. An array of organizations are nonprofit, including some political organizations, schools, business associations, churches, social clubs, and consumer cooperatives. Nonprofit entities may seek approval from governments to be tax-exempt, and some may also qualify to receive tax-deductible contributions, but an entity may incorporate as a nonprofit entity without securing tax-exempt status. Key aspects of nonprofits are accountability, trustworthiness, honesty, and openness to eve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
California Constitution
The Constitution of California ( es, Constitución de California) is the primary organizing law for the U.S. state of California, describing the duties, powers, structures and functions of the government of California. California's original constitution was drafted in both English and Spanish by American pioneers, European settlers, and Californios (Hispanics of California) and adopted at the 1849 Constitutional Convention of Monterey, following the American Conquest of California and the Mexican-American War and in advance of California's Admission to the Union in 1850. The constitution was amended and ratified on 7 May 1879, following the Sacramento Convention of 1878-79. The Constitution of California is one of the longest collections of laws in the world, partially due to provisions enacted during the Progressive Era limiting powers of elected officials, but largely due to additions by California ballot proposition and voter initiatives, which take form as constitutional ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Gaines (environmentalist)
David Allen Gaines (December 30, 1947 – January 11, 1988) was an American environmentalist and the founder of the Mono Lake Committee. The Mono Lake Committee (along with the Audubon Society) initiated a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to reduce or stop the water diversions that were lowering Mono Lake; Gaines' approach in the lawsuit was to work with the opposition instead of demonizing them. He and his wife, Sally Gaines, began the committee in 1978. They required help from students at Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ..., UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, and Earlham College. Based on research in the Mono Basin, Gaines co-wrote a chapter in the book ''California Riparian Systems''; this helped bring scientific ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Owens Valley
Owens Valley (Numic Numic is a branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. It includes seven languages spoken by Native American peoples traditionally living in the Great Basin, Colorado River basin, Snake River basin, and southern Great Plains. The word Numic com ...: ''Payahǖǖnadǖ'', meaning "place of flowing water") is an arid valley of the Owens River in eastern California in the United States. It is located to the east of the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada, west of the White Mountains (California), White Mountains and Inyo Mountains, and north of the Mojave Desert. It sits on the west edge of the Great Basin section, Great Basin. The mountain peaks on the West side (including Mount Whitney) reach above in elevation, while the floor of the Owens Valley is about , making the valley the deepest in the United States. The Sierra Nevada casts the valley in a rain shadow, which makes Owens Valley "the Land of Little Rain." The bed of Owens Lake, now a predominantly dr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Los Angeles Aqueduct
The Los Angeles Aqueduct system, comprising the Los Angeles Aqueduct (Owens Valley aqueduct) and the Second Los Angeles Aqueduct, is a water conveyance system, built and operated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The Owens Valley aqueduct was designed and built by the city's water department, at the time named The Bureau of Los Angeles Aqueduct, under the supervision of the department's Chief Engineer William Mulholland. The system delivers water from the Owens River in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains to Los Angeles, California. The aqueduct's construction was controversial from the start, as water diversions to Los Angeles eliminated the Owens Valley as a viable farming community. Clauses in the city's charter originally stated that the city could not sell or provide surplus water to any area outside the city, forcing adjacent communities to annex themselves into Los Angeles. The aqueduct's infrastructure also included the completion of the St. Francis Dam i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sierra Nevada (U
The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily in Nevada. The Sierra Nevada is part of the American Cordillera, an almost continuous chain of mountain ranges that forms the western "backbone" of the Americas. The Sierra runs north-south and its width ranges from to across east–west. Notable features include General Sherman, the largest tree in the world by volume; Lake Tahoe, the largest alpine lake in North America; Mount Whitney at , the highest point in the contiguous United States; and Yosemite Valley sculpted by glaciers from one-hundred-million-year-old granite, containing high waterfalls. The Sierra is home to three national parks, twenty wilderness areas, and two national monuments. These areas include Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks; and Devils ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
California State Water Resources Control Board
The California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) is one of six branches of the California Environmental Protection Agency. History This regulatory program has had the status of an official government department since the 1950s. The State Water Pollution Control Board, as well as 9 regional boards, were established by the Dickey Water Pollution Act of 1949. The board was renamed to the State Water Quality Control Board by an Act of 1963. The State Water Resources Control Board was established from the State Water Quality Control Board and the State Water Rights Board by an Act of 1967. California's pioneering clean water act is the 1969 Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act (Porter-Cologne Act). Through the Porter-Cologne Act, the State Water Board and the Regional Water Boards have been entrusted with broad duties and powers to preserve and enhance all beneficial uses of the state's immensely complex waterscape. The Porter-Cologne Act is recognized as one of the nati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Federal Courts
The federal judiciary of the United States is one of the three branches of the federal government of the United States organized under the Constitution of the United States, United States Constitution and Law of the United States, laws of the federal government. The U.S. federal judiciary consists primarily of the Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Court, the United States Courts of Appeals, U.S. Courts of Appeals, and the United States District Courts, U.S. District Courts. It also includes a variety of other lesser federal tribunals. Article III of the United States Constitution, Article III of the Constitution requires the establishment of a Supreme Court and permits the Congress to create other federal courts and place limitations on their jurisdiction. Article III states that United States federal judge, federal judges are appointed by the President of the United States, president with the consent of the United States Senate, Senate to serve until they resign, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Public Land
In all modern states, a portion of land is held by central or local governments. This is called public land, state land, or Crown land (Australia, and Canada). The system of tenure of public land, and the terminology used, varies between countries. The following examples illustrate some of the range. Commonwealth countries In several Commonwealth countries such as Australia, New Zealand and Canada, public lands are referred to as Crown lands. Recent proposals to sell Crown lands have been highly controversial. France In France, (french: domaine public) may be held by communes, ''départements'', or the central State. Portugal In Portugal the land owned by the State, by the two autonomous regions (Azores and Madeira) and by the local governments (municipalities (Portuguese: ''municípios'') and ''freguesias'') can be of two types: public domain (Portuguese: ''domínio público'') and private domain (Portuguese: ''domínio privado''). The latter is owned like any private enti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Regulatory Taking
In United States constitutional law, a regulatory taking occurs when governmental regulations limit the use of private property to such a degree that the landowner is effectively deprived of all economically reasonable use or value of their property. Under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution governments are required to pay just compensation for such takings. The amendment is incorporated to the states via the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Regulatory takings jurisprudence has its roots in Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes' opinion in ''Pennsylvania Coal v. Mahon'' (1922) which stated that: "The general rule, at least, is that, if regulation goes too far, it will be recognized as a taking for which compensation must be paid." Modern jurisprudence to determine whether a regulatory taking has occurred centers around the ad hoc factor-based test that the Supreme Court of the United States laid out in ''Penn Central Transp. Co. v. New York City'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Illinois Central Railroad V
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockford, as well Springfield, its capital. Of the fifty U.S. states, Illinois has the fifth-largest gross domestic product (GDP), the sixth-largest population, and the 25th-largest land area. Illinois has a highly diverse economy, with the global city of Chicago in the northeast, major industrial and agricultural hubs in the north and center, and natural resources such as coal, timber, and petroleum in the south. Owing to its central location and favorable geography, the state is a major transportation hub: the Port of Chicago has access to the Atlantic Ocean through the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Seaway and to the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River via the Illinois Waterway. Additionally, the Mississippi, Ohio, and Wabash rive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Supreme Court Of The United States
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of federal law. It also has original jurisdiction over a narrow range of cases, specifically "all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party." The court holds the power of judicial review, the ability to invalidate a statute for violating a provision of the Constitution. It is also able to strike down presidential directives for violating either the Constitution or statutory law. However, it may act only within the context of a case in an area of law over which it has jurisdiction. The court may decide cases having political overtones, but has ruled that it does not have power to decide non-justiciable political questions. Established by Article Three of the United States ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
