The Water Values

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Robert “Bo” Abrams is a professor of law at Florida A&M University’s College of Law, and he explains in clear detail how water law in the Eastern U.S. has developed over time from the English common law to riparianism in its several forms. It’s a fascinating look at how economics, climate, municipal growth and other factors shape the development of the law. Bo also posits that Eastern U.S. water law is moving closer to Western U.S. water law through riparianism’s evolution to its current state. And Western U.S. water law is converging on Eastern U.S. water law, too, and Bo identifies how that movement is progressing and what issues lie ahead as Eastern and Western U.S. water law converge.

In this session, you’ll learn about:

• How traditional English water law has evolved
• The stressors pushing traditional, reasonable use riparian water law toward regulated riparian water law
• How economics shapes water law
• Different types water rights
• Riparian water rights
• Littoral water rights
• The states that first adopted regulated riparianism and how those models differed
• The characteristics of regulated riparianism
• How Eastern water law and Western water law are converging
• How Eastern water law and Western water law continue to be divergent

Resources and links mentioned in or relevant to this session include:

• Bo’s email: robert dot abrams at famu dot edu
• Bo’s Florida A&M University College of Law webpage
• Allocating Increasingly Scarce Water Resources - Is It Time for a Change? (Abrams 2016 ABA Water Law Conference PowerPoint)
• Allocating Increasingly Scarce Water Resources - Is It Time for a Change? (Abrams 2016 ABA Water Law Conference Paper)
• Oriental Despotism (via Amazon.com)
• Obituary for Stanford University Law School Water Law Professor Charles J. Meyers in the New York Times
• Obituary for University of Michigan Law School Water Law Professor Joseph L. Sax in the New York Times
• The American Land Title Association’s Land Title Institute article – Water Rights and Related Issues

Transcript

Sorry – no transcript this week. Let me know by emailing me if you miss the transcripts!

Thank You!

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