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Document Type

Symposium

Publication Date

Spring 1995

Publication Citation

2 Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies 395 (1995)

Abstract

Ms. Darian-Smith explores the relationship between law and the

concept of "landscapes, "which she describes as the spatial imagery

through which law is conceived and from which it draws meaning.

She first defines the complex and historically rich concept of the

"garden image," both in general and as it is seen in (and by)

England, its people, and its surrounding political, cultural, and

spatial contexts. In general terms, the garden image is injected into

issues of environmental law. Further, she notes that the garden has

been a fluid, ever-changing concept for England's society and its

developing legal system. Specifically, Darian-Smith focuses on a

recent development regarding the interaction between the law, the

garden, and spatial imagery in England: she argues that the new

Channel Tunnel between England and France undermines

England's identity as an island nation, in effect physically and

symbolically severing its claim as the bounded "Garden of

England." Such a development, Darian-Smith argues, is a symbol

of the eroding of an English identity traditionally thought to be

distinct and separate from Europe and its influences, a notion

analogous to the way European Community law and English law

have been meshed together in environmental issues.

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