Environmental liability in comparative law: Legal and social contexts in Brazil, Austria and Switzerland

Abstract

The environment as a legal asset and the juridical remedy for its breach have distinguishably evolved in European agreements and domestic law in comparison to Brazil’s legal system, despite of the harmonizing goal of the declarations and treaties emanated from supranational organizations. The juridical standard designed by this international approach pursues correspondence and exchangeability between nations of the globe, in spite of the obvious discrepancies in the social and environmental agendas of developed and developing countries. The quality and quantity of the legal production connected to the environment in Brazil, Switzerland and Austria declare a relevant association with community bonds. In this paper, deductive reasoning as well as qualitative and comparative methodologies were used in the compilation of all international norms and domestic laws and acts of each examined state. The major objective is to reveal Brazil’s reality in comparison to the Austrian and Swiss contexts, show relevant data and perspectives in relation to the asymmetry of juridical and collective cohesion and provide a refl exive construction on common and collective assets.

Keywords: liability, environment, International Law.