Nature’s right to damages in the event of civil liability?

Abstract

Treating nature as a subject of law is a topic of contention in the contemporary era. A significant number of states, if not the majority, continue to refrain from recognising the protection of nature in this sense. This is because the essence of legal personality is attributed solely to individual or collective persons. However, some countries have already begun to approach environmental protection from the perspective of nature without being exclusively focused on human rights. This study is based on civil liability law in Portugal and seeks to verify the relevance of attributing legal personhood to nature. The research results indicate that the configuration of this instrument, which recognises the subjective rights of nature, could help improve environmental protection. However, it is not, in legal terms, the most appropriate way forward. From a human and non-human relational perspective, attributing a ‘status’ to nature may be preferable through existential heritage.