Unpacking the public trust doctrine: A journey into foreign territory
Abstract
The past decade has borne witness to the transformation of South Africa's natural
resources law with the introduction of a new legal concept, that of "public
trusteeship", to South African jurisprudence. The concept of "public trusteeship" as it
is embodied in South African legislation encapsulates the sovereign's duty to act as
guardian of certain interests to the benefit of the nation as a whole. In the quest to
demystify the incorporation of the concept of "public trusteeship" in South Africa, this
article, as a first tentative step, focuses solely on the public trust doctrine as it
functions in American jurisprudence. It is the aim of this article to give a thorough
theoretical exposition of the development and application of the public trust doctrine
in American jurisprudence in order to provide the South African scholar with a
perspective on a legal construct founded on the philosophical notion that
governments exercise a "fiduciary trust" on behalf of their people.