Giving the River Clyde a Legal Personality

Sir Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw

Giving the River Clyde a Legal Personality

Sir Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw

Dundee Law School

Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article

Abstract

Professor Louise Welsh and Jude Barber on behalf of The Empire Café, lodged a Petition with the Scottish Parliament, Petitions Committee on 13 December 2024 - PE2131: Grant Scottish rivers, including the River Clyde, the legal right to personhood. The Petition has 446 signatures. In summary, the Petition calls:

… on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to grant the River Clyde, and potentially other rivers in Scotland, the legal right to personhood by:
• adopting the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Rivers
• appointing a Nature Director to act as a guardian of the River Clyde, with the responsibility for upholding its river rights
• considering whether an alternative mechanism should be established to act for the rights of the river, its inhabitants (human and non-human), and society at large.

The article considers the background to giving a river a legal personality and then considers whether this does give the river better protection.

Original language	English
Number of pages	5
No.	229
Specialist publication	Scottish Planning and Environmental Law
Publisher	IDOX
Publication status	Published - Jun 2025

Cite this

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AB - Professor Louise Welsh and Jude Barber on behalf of The Empire Café, lodged a Petition with the Scottish Parliament, Petitions Committee on 13 December 2024 - PE2131: Grant Scottish rivers, including the River Clyde, the legal right to personhood. The Petition has 446 signatures. In summary, the Petition calls: … on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to grant the River Clyde, and potentially other rivers in Scotland, the legal right to personhood by: • adopting the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Rivers • appointing a Nature Director to act as a guardian of the River Clyde, with the responsibility for upholding its river rights • considering whether an alternative mechanism should be established to act for the rights of the river, its inhabitants (human and non-human), and society at large. The article considers the background to giving a river a legal personality and then considers whether this does give the river better protection.

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JF - Scottish Planning and Environmental Law

PB - IDOX

ER -

Giving the River Clyde a Legal Personality

Abstract

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