Chasing the Wind: Regulating Air Pollution in the Common Law State

Extract

Chasing the Wind: Regulating Air Pollution in the Common Law State. By Noga Morag-Levine. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003. 264p. $35.00.

This book covers an impressive array of topics: the contrasting styles of air pollution regulation in the United States and Europe; the English common law of “noxious vapours” from 1611 to 1900; the origin of the highly effective British Alkali Inspectorate; the development of the common law of nuisance in Pennsylvania from 1869 to 1970; American regulation of “smoke” and “odors” over the past century; and a detailed examination of contemporary regulation of odor at foundries in four American cities. The author is to be commended for the extensive research packed into nine dense chapters.