Environmental law did not begin with enactment of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in 1969. Nor did it begin when Massachusetts adopted the first state wetland protection statute in 1963 or California adopted the first controls on air pollution from automobiles. It did not begin when the federal government established Yellowstone National Park in 1872 either.

Environmental law may have begun in 1610, when a landowner brought legal action against a neighboring pig sty, objecting to the fumes and odors it produced. The sty owner objected that the landowner's sensitivities should not take precedence over his productive activity, but the court was not convinced, recognizing that each landowner only has the right to make use of their property in such a way as not to infringe upon t

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