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Avant-propos

Pascale Dufour

Droit et décroissance : où est-ce que ça coince ?

Lauréline Fontaine
The incantations of degrowth through law have been agitating the world of lawyers for several years, who are seeking to shape the appropriate legal tools and categories. And rightly so, no doubt. But these reflections lack to take into account the effects of the system that are not far from doom all these attempts to failure. By way of introduction, this contribution proposes to set out some elements of these systemic effects in order to understand where and if it is possible to change the growthist march of the legal system.

Ébauche d’une épistémologie et d’une méthodologie pour un droit de la décroissance

Hugo Tremblay
This article outlines the foundations of a legal methodology and epistemology that could serve as a platform for conducting legal research on degrowth. Following a metaphor of the axiomatic method starting from the definition of degrowth, the article proposes a framework based on the following five principles : interdisciplinarity, parsimony, bounded rationality, normativity, and decolonial pluralism. Given their transversality, these principles build bridges between legal science and other disciplines. They are expected to be refined, improved, or invalidated in the course of future research.

Repenser la pédagogie du droit vers un imaginaire post-croissance : trouble, affect et relations

Alexandre Lillo and Pierre-Alexandre Cardinal
We often hear "what planet are we going to leave to the next generations?", but shouldn't we rather ask ourselves "what next generations are we going to leave to the planet?". This questioning, launched by Pierre Rabhi, captures the ambition of this article. While the possibility of mobilizing law as a vector for a shrinking world is increasingly explored, it seems essential, in parallel and to perpetuate this vision, to be concerned with the way in which future generations of lawyers are trained.By adopting the format of a reflective exchange between the authors, this article links reflections on the space that is the classroom, the role of post-growth theories in the transformation of legal education or the pedagogical contribution of this approach. Four central concepts emerge and structure this discussion: trouble, resonance, affect and politicization. They will be mobilized not only to diagnose the issues surrounding law and its teaching in the light of the Anthropocene, but also to initiate a reflection on what the pedagogy of law could be as a vector of a post-crescent imaginary.

Face à l’idéal de décroissance et de décolonisation du droit : quelle(s) réconciliation(s) possible(s) en droit international ?

Caecilia Alexandre
The concept of « degrowth », currently under debate, refers to an ideal that we are striving to achieve, and which Professor Yves Marie Abraham describes through the slogan « Produce less, share more, decide together ». Based on this premise, this article examines the capacity of certain international organizations to deploy programs and measures that would make it possible to reduce global production and consumption in a spirit of social democracy. Specifically, it questions the ability of a UN agency specialized in the field of culture, the International Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and in particular its Conventions on Heritage, to develop actions aimed at preserving heritage in a decreasing manner. This question is all the more pertinent as these actions will have a direct impact on the territory and the way it is « used » and « managed ».The question then arises as to whether the Heritage Conventions call on States to deploy measures that would conserve the “territory” in an ecologically sound way, and meet the needs of those who live from and through the land. While - as with all international organizations - the decisions relating to the protection and safeguarding of heritage are taken by States parties to the Conventions, it is worth reflecting on the role of indigenous peoples, who have a special relationship with the land and who should, as part of their internationally recognized right to self-determination, take part in all decisions relating to heritage. In this way, we propose a reform of the governance mechanisms of UNESCO’s heritage-related Conventions, based on a decolonial and degrowth approach. This necessarily implies questioning the use of the concepts of « heritage » and « territory » described by the Conventions we are interested in, and how these can become a tool for indigenous peoples.

Les origines anticoloniales du droit international de l’espace : vers une a-territorialité décroissantiste ?

Maria Manoli
The term de-growth has historically been linked to the critique of capitalism. It embraces the critique of the concept of development, including sustainable development, as a “zero-growth” approach, as per Andre Gortz, appears more valuable in the modern context in minimizing waste and overproduction. Therefore, the concept of de-growth has intellectually and socially been linked with the preservation of resources, including natural resources, as well as with the potential of reduced resource and energy use, thus achieving results such as the protection of the environment and the less uneven distribution of wealth across the world.Even though the field of space activities and space law do not seem to have apparent links with this concept, in fact, the history of international space law’s development attests to the opposite. Indeed, the genesis of international space law is linked to the idea of de-growth, if not directly, at least in a conceptually relevant way. A large part of the scholarship in de-growth supports the relationship between degrowth and decolonisation viewing colonialism as one of the causes of the currently experienced excessive growth and resource depletion. The original raison-d’-être of international space law is very close to this intellectual dynamic. Due to the specifics of the era in which international space law emerged during the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, the theoretical foundations of international space law were characterized by the elements linked with the concept of degrowth, such as the objective of anti-colonialism. Therefore, this writing analyzes the anti-colonial origins of international space law from both a historical and a legal perspective, compares them with the colonial roots of international law, and raises concerns as the modern private actor and market-oriented development of space activities tends to call for a paradigm shift towards modern forms of colonialism and a market-oriented approach to space exploration. In that way, this writing introduces a new conceptualization about space law, a conceptualization that can consider it as a critique to its own genre, that is, international law.

Repenser le travail au-delà du productivisme avec le droit social : mise à l’épreuve d’une méthode à travers le cas de l’emploi convenable

Elise Dermine and Juliette Van Ypersele
Faced with the ecological emergency, rethinking work beyond productivism has become a necessity. However, current research on the future of work remains largely theoretical and appears insufficiently concrete to be debated, reappropriated, and implemented. To overcome these limits, this contribution proposes a new method based on social law, which defines and regulates work. This method relies on the identification of latent utopias - that is, exceptions to productivism that already exist within national social law systems. It then aims to develop, on the basis of these exceptions, legal proposals that constitute objectively real possibilities for emancipating work from productivism.This method is tested through a first case study: the notion of suitable employment in unemployment benefits. After identifying existing exceptions to productivism within this mechanism, three legal proposals are developed to extend them. The first values care services performed within the family sphere. The second guarantees the subsistence of sectors deemed ecologically or socially useful. The third establishes a constraint on the exercise of ecologically or socially harmful jobs. These proposals, both grounded and capable of being reappropriated, illustrate the operationality of the proposed method.

Le droit pour changer les modèles d’influence : quel usage du Name and Shame comme outil de décroissance ?

Marie-Laure Lambert and François Briens
Overcoming ecological, social and democratic challenges requires reshaping our cultural and political settings and socioeconomic organisation to align them with a degrowth pathway. The organized reduction of the extraction and consumption of resources calls for an appropriate legal framework, yet to be designed. To be fair and effective, this legal framework should differentiate and enforce progressive rules according to the nature and intensity of the consumption. While conceptual frameworks to differentiate consumptions have already been developed, as the Negawatt model, the main challenge lies in establishing a collective decision-making process to define operational criteria and consumption thresholds and ensure their application. Participatory schemes, such as citizens' conventions, backed by solid legal guarantees, could offer a promising democratic tool for this purpose.Besides, the low effectiveness of coercive measures on powerful actors, who have low sensitivity to price signals and use strategies to avoid legal sanctions, calls for innovative sanction mechanisms. In this respect, existing sanctions could usefully be complemented by “naming and shaming” strategies. Public denonciation could discourage excessive and unsustainable practices from certain individuals or companies by criticizing them publicly. It would also help to de-normalize and devaluate the models of over-consumption that such practices propagate through trickled-down imitation and emulation effects. The proposal to create a dedicated citizen-led institution in charge of denunciating excessive and harmful consumptions could therefore play a key role in exerting social pressure on offenders while influencing the social imaginary and raising awareness. However, its actions should be regulated under a specific legal framework in order to guarantee the proportionality of the measures and their compliance with fundamental rights.

L’intégration juridique des circuits courts alimentaires dans l’Union européenne : propositions de modification de l’organisation commune des marchés agricoles

Olivier Dussauge
The transformation of the European food system, aimed at aligning it with planetary limits, requires changes to the fundamental structures of this field. The goal is to develop specific legislation that provides a regulatory framework for the actions of public authorities and private individuals, steering the production, exchange, and consumption of foodstuffs toward a truly sustainable path. Numerous measures—often contested—have been adopted in this regard. However, these measures focus primarily on practices related to food production and consumption without addressing the exchange process itself; that is, they do not ensure fair prices for producers and reasonable prices for consumers. Furthermore, the Commission's political ambition, as outlined in the Green Deal for Europe, to « enhance the resilience of regional and local food systems […] and create shorter supply chains », has not been effectively translated into the legal framework governing food trade. In essence, the current market rules do not meet the needs of producers and consumers who wish to contribute to a sustainable food system. Without appropriate measures, it seems futile to encourage producers to change their practices if they lack guarantees of selling their products at fair prices. Similarly, urging consumers to choose sustainable products is pointless if they do not have easy access to them or the ability to purchase them at reasonable prices. Short food supply chains represent one viable solution among several for reconciling human food needs with planetary limits.

Les vêtements, la mode et la décroissance : un tour d’horizon des récents encadrements normatifs

Marie-Claude Desjardins and Ariane Jacques
Although the fashion and clothing industry occupies a central place in our societies and in the global economy, it has significant environmental and social impacts: water pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, accelerated production cycles, inhumane working conditions, etc. In this context, civil society is now advocating degrowth to reverse this trend. That said, while most initiatives to date have come from civil society, some states have recently chosen to regulate this sector of activity. In recent years, several legislative initiatives have been introduced in several jurisdictions, demonstrating the State’s growing awareness of the alarming impacts of this industry. In this article, we will look at the way in which certain jurisdictions have regulated this sector of activity, while initiating a reflection to see to what extent these initiatives adopt a degrowth approach.

Les instruments juridiques à mettre en place pour contribuer à réduire la consommation

Valentin Vidjannagni Vidéhomè Kpako and Eric Codjo Montcho Agbassa
If consumption is a vital need, overconsumption, on the other hand, seems lethal for humanity. Exacerbated by the media industry, particularly advertising, overconsumption is now at the root of health, economic-financial, political, security and environmental crises. From this point of view, it now seems to have reached, according to Clive Hamilton, "the threshold of the unpermitted", and could lead, through the divorce from nature, to the reading of the "requiem for the human species". This alarming picture requires, by virtue of everyone's duty to preserve the environment, that humanity shift, well beyond the consumer transition, towards the decrease in consumption. A review of the various international and national instruments in this area suggests the possibility of simultaneously activating two types of levers, namely: the strength of criminal law and contract law mechanisms; the first is intended to reduce overconsumption, the second offering the guarantee of control of consumption.

Le droit européen des pratiques commerciales et la diminution de la consommation

Jennifer Bouffard
European commercial practices law is a lever that would be effective in enabling a reduction in consumption on the territory of the European Union for several reasons. On the one hand, legal policy reasons abound in this direction. Indeed, even if the current paradigm of the European Union remains growth, the Green Deal, a policy currently pursued by the institutions of the European Union, seems to be a first step towards reducing consumption. Especially since several recent changes to the commercial practices law are moving in the direction of a reduction in consumption. On the other hand, legal technique arguments support the fact that European commercial practices law could enable a reduction in consumption, in particular due to the broad scope of European regulations associated with a very high degree of harmonization of national laws.Nevertheless current system for regulating commercial practices can be improved. First, this regulation should be intensified by modifying it in several ways. For example, deception on sustainability could be more simply characterized. All information communicated by a professional during the act of purchase that does not relate to the characteristics of the product is information which tends to put pressure on the consumers to urge them to buy the product could constitute aggressive commercial practices, therefore they should be prohibited. Advertising on certain products could also be prohibited per se. In addition, the current system of commercial practices could seek to transform consumer behaviour since, although this constitutes a paradigm shift compared to the current rules, consumers have their role to play in reducing consumption. Thus information or marketing techniques to reduce consumption could be highlighted.

Les outils originaux du droit privé et de la consommation sud-américain pour des modes de consommation post-croissance

Gonzalo Sozzo
Since the 2000s, South American constitutionalism has undergone a significant bio-ecocentric shift rooted in worldviews that offer alternatives to economic growth and the narrow conception of sustainable development: buen vivir and the broader conception of sustainable development that we refer to as “perdurable development.” On the one hand, the new constitutional texts have inspired an identity for South American private and consumer law that is deeply rooted in the idea of collective human rights and bio-ecocentric worldviews; on the other hand, led to the greening of private law through the integration of the principle of ecosystem sustainability within the framework of reforms to various civil codes and new civil codes across the continent. In this context, this article analyzes how South American private law and consumer law are slowly beginning to develop a significant arsenal of original and innovative tools to transform consumption patterns from a post-growth perspective. These South American tools can inspire the creation of a toolkit useful for developing similar solutions in other regions of the world, also aimed at transforming the consumption patterns of contemporary human societies in the same direction.

La solution québécoise de la Loi protégeant les consommateurs contre l’obsolescence programmée et favorisant la durabilité, la réparabilité et l’entretien des biens : un pas vers la décroissance ?

Ledy Rivas Zannou
The amendments introduced by the Bill protecting consumers against planned obsolescence, durability, repairability and maintenance of goods represent a major transformation of Quebec consumer law. This legislative reform introduces new obligations for traders and manufacturers, strengthens the legal warranty regime and enshrines a right to compensation. This contribution proposes a critical socio-legal analysis of these consumerist provisions by questioning their compatibility with the objectives of degrowth. Through the examination of the normative framework focused on durability and repairability, it demonstrates that while this law constitutes a significant step forward in consumer protection, it remains a prisoner of a logic of growth. In particular, it reveals how the changes introduced, designed to facilitate market exchanges, struggle to integrate a real break with the productivist paradigm.

Réexamen de la classification des contrats à titre gratuit et à titre onéreux dans une perspective décroissante

David Hiez
The division of contracts free of charge and for pecuniary interest is one of the summa divisio of contract law and appears to be a pole of stability. However, insidiously, it has shifted from the primacy granted to the free contract to its relegation, as the French reform of contract law of 2016 explicitly attests. However, this development of the onerous contract corresponds to an extension of the market and a marginalization of non-financialized relations, a double movement that accompanies, supports and promotes capitalism and its productivism.In a decreasing perspective, taken as a hypothesis, this evolution must be discussed and it is proposed to put the free contract back in the foreground. However, this would be a new development and certainly not a step backwards. Not only would the basis of the distinction be reviewed on the basis of the contribution to the social bond, but also the reflection on the legal regime could be an opportunity to propose the consecration of a new category, the predatory contract, subject to the control of the legal system, or even to its sanction.

Une volonté contractuelle décroissante. L’asservissement du droit à la surconsommation des ressources par le contrat

André Bélanger and Marc-Antoine Picotte
This article examines the significance of will in the context of a reflection on degrowth in contract law. Rather than proposing new norms that promote degrowth, the authors advocate a return to fundamentals by taking the contracting parties' will seriously. Growth and (over)consumption are currently reinforced by "accelerated" (Rosa) and alienating (Fromm) contractual practices, such as adhesion and standardized contracts, which strip voluntary and civic commitment of its true meaning. In contrast, slowing down the contractual process through genuine reflection would naturally foster degrowth. Strengthening the role of the parties' will should lead to contracts being concluded in a more informed manner, with greater awareness of the social and environmental impacts of contractual decisions. The article also explores the responsibility of legal professionals in this paradigm shift.

Quelle conception du contrat au soutien d’un projet de décroissance ? Quelques réflexions préliminaires à partir du principe de stabilité contractuelle

Pascale Dufour and Simon St-Onge
The contract, a symbol of the commodification of goods and services, has long been viewed as the preferred legal tool for economic growth, primarily due to the mechanisms it introduces to transactions, making the economy more predictable while also adapting to its unpredictability. Given that it is now evident that economic growth exacerbates injustices and threatens planetary boundaries, it would be legitimate to hold the contract accountable for the ills of capitalist disasters.However, the question is not to lay these accusations to rest but rather to explore the potential of the contract to engage in degrowth. This would involve discussing the contract in terms of its role in motivating a political and legal project aiming to halt the race for growth so to build more sustainable, just, and democratic societies. Certainly, this requires rethinking the role of the contract, which is currently a motor of growth, in light of imperatives that go beyond its liberal theory. This is what the article proposes.Considering the contract through the lens of degrowth implies breaking the link between contractual stability and economic growth in favor of a deeper relational stability. To achieve this, it is suggested to expand the classical conception of the contractual relationship to recognize those others who are nonetheless affected, at least in part, by bilateral relations. In doing so, we aim to pave the way for an innovative approach to contractual relationships that is more ethical and respectful of humans, living beings, and nature; essentially, a promising contractual alternative to the relentless pursuit of economic growth.

Penser la monnaie dans une perspective décroissante : un essai

Frédéric Allemand
As a central institution of legal civilisation, money, whatever its form, shapes exchange relationships and acts as a mediator between individuals. It is one of the key instruments of our modern transactional societies. Its legal properties largely drive the growth dynamics of capitalist economies. Whilst legal tender, issued by public authorities, forms part of a public payment service, the payment instruments offered by financial actors and credit institutions – what we refer to as money in its broadest sense (credit cards, cheques, etc.) – are based on a logic of accumulation. They are not a free public good, but services whose use is costly and requires productive activity to ensure repayment. The aim of this essay is not to denounce money as such. No society that has adopted it has ever renounced it. The aim is to initiate a debate on the nature and functions of money as an instrument of ‘the power to live’ and its role in protecting and preserving the commons.

Le droit fiscal face à la décroissance : peut-on transformer un système conçu pour la croissance ?

Annick Provencher
This article offers an exploratory reflection on the relationship between degrowth and tax law. Presented as a first foray into an emerging field of legal research, it does not seek to provide definitive solutions but rather to initiate a discussion on the legal transformations that a transition toward a post-growth economy would require. The analysis highlights the extent to which the Canadian tax system remains grounded in economic growth objectives, particularly through measures that encourage investment, production and the exploitation of natural resources. The article argues that even green growth policies continue to operate within this growth-oriented framework. Against this backdrop, the article explores a range of tax reforms that could support a transition toward degrowth while preserving the state's ability to fund public services and social redistribution. Proposed measures include greater progressivity in income taxation, the reintroduction of wealth and inheritance taxes, and stronger environmental and natural resource taxes. The article concludes that the necessary legal tools already exist, but that their implementation would require interdisciplinary collaboration and extensive democratic debate.

Repenser le droit international des investissements à l’aune de la décroissance : entre contraintes structurelles et perspectives de réforme

Hervé Agbodjan Prince and Zaïda Abdoul Aziz Amadou
International investment law has historically developed around a logic based on economic growth, capital accumulation and the promotion of development. Its primary purpose remains the protection of foreign investors and private property, which is seen as a driver of prosperity and progress. From this point of view, foreign investment is a legal and economic instrument at the service of a capitalist paradigm based on the long-undisputed idea of unlimited growth, which is both possible and desirable (Kerschner, 2010). However, for several decades, this postulate of infinite growth has been the subject of profound questioning. Many authors now emphasize its ecologically, socially and economically unsustainable nature (RUMPALA, 2009). From this perspective, the integration of a logic of degrowth would imply a structural transformation of the legal regime for international investment, by calling into question its normative assumptions relating to productivity, profitability and absolute investment protection. This paradigmatic shift raises an ideological clash between the economic rationality of investment law and contemporary ecological imperatives aimed at "breaking out of the infernal circle of the unlimited creation of needs and products" (LATOUCHE, 2015). The analysis of this tension makes it possible to outline the contours of a possible rebalancing of international investment law, no longer based solely on the maximization of capital flows, but on a more pragmatic approach, integrating ecological sustainability and global economic justice.

L’ordre public écologique contribuant à l’instauration d’un monde décroissant

Marie-Caroline Vincent-Legoux
The establishment of degrowth in the world, that democratically supports a reduction in both production and consumption to decrease the ecological footprint, calls for public order as the foundation of values within the law. The ecological public order, in French law, requires respect for the natural heritage – in the sense of a legacy to be passed on to future generations – in order to guarantee the right to live in a healthy and balanced environment. It is invoked both in social relations, by justifying administrative police measures based on the balance of nature and criminal incriminations reflecting the reprobation of breaches of this balance, and also in legal relations, using imperative legal provisions binding on contracting parties.The awareness that the human species depends on the entire living world should lead to a strengthening of the ecological public order. Its constitutional anchoring in the right to live in a balanced environment, also respecting one’s health, supported by the protective role of public order freedoms, is paired with the constitutional objective of protecting the environment, the common heritage of humankind. However, the ecological public order could receive explicit constitutional endorsement, which would justify reviewing the ordering of social values. As nature is of vital interest to humanity, and thus a necessary precondition for life in society, the ecological public order could join the ranks of first-rate public order values, and therefore take precedence over the economic public order. The level and effectiveness of criminal penalties it establishes would be increased. The commodification of nature and environmental responsibilities would be questioned.The ecological public order should be articulated with the values of public order required for life in society and social peace, in a democratic and liberal state governed by the rule of law, by determining the dominant conception of justice on a case-by-case basis.

Les quotas environnementaux comme outil de décroissance pour respecter les limites planétaires

Valérie Dupont, Thierry Largey, Stéphane Nahrath and Céline Weyermann
The philosophical currents of degrowth are based on the premise that the economy must respect the limits imposed by the functioning of the biosphere. Among the tools of self-limitation, environmental quota systems could be particularly interesting for the coordinated and equitable distribution of these limited resources. Given the global nature of many limits, quota systems, whatever their scale, must be part of a global approach to the distribution of resources and mitigation efforts. In this article, we therefore explore the possibility of establishing planetary environmental quota systems in international law. Concretely, planetary boundaries need to be transposed into global quotas, which express the maximum or minimum absolute quantity of emissions, withdrawals or use that is admissible so as not to exceed the planetary limit. Furthermore, the achievement of global environmental quotas depends on the fair allocation and respect of national, sectoral, or even individual quotas. As quota systems precisely set an absolute global limit that must not be exceeded and a mechanism for respecting it collectively and individually, they theoretically guarantee that the predetermined environmental objective is actually achieved. They can also be applied at several levels of action. That said, they require precise quantification of the ecological limits and the associated human pressures. It is also important to ensure that quotas are distributed fairly.

Le principe d’optimum écologique, exigence renforcée à l’égard des opérations d’aménagement

Vadim Jeanne
This proposal proposes the creation of a legal principle, the ecological optimum principle, intended to be used in particular in the context of land-use operations authorized by public authorities. The ecological optimum principle is conceived as a prerequisite to the land-use project, situated upstream of the balance of the project’s advantages and disadvantages. Environmental protection is directly involved in this balance, whether on the advantages or disadvantages side. More often on the disadvantage side, environmental protection constitutes an obstacle that must be overcome by the petitioner of the project. As a disadvantage, environmental protection is often the subject of an unfavourable conciliation, giving preference to social or economic interests. As part of a debate on the contribution of the law to a degrowth world, it would seem necessary to reassess the role of environmental protection in order to limit the unbridled development of certain projects and the pressure they exert on land. The ecological optimum principle would then establish a new position for environmental protection upstream of conciliation. Before examining the advantages and disadvantages of the operation, the administrative authority and the administrative judge will have to measure the environmental impact. If this is excessive, the project will be refused or cancelled by the administrative judge. If this is not the case, the project's merits continue to be reviewed by means of conciliation, with the possible risk that the economic or social benefits of the operation may not be deemed sufficient in relation to the disadvantages, particularly those of a social nature. Under this approach, environmental protection is no longer a component of reconciliation but a condition of it. The relevance of development projects is then directly examined in the light of the imperative of preserving the environment.

Des droits humains aux droits « humaturés » ? Éléments pour une nouvelle théorie des droits au service de la décroissance

Fabien Bottini
Since the 18th century, the rhetoric of rights have experienced several semantic shifts in the French language, marked by the transition from the notion of human rights to that of public liberties, and then to the concept of fundamental rights. Behind these terminological changes, it is the entire theoretical framework of legal normativity that has evolved to adapt to a new social reality.The challenges linked to the climate change and, more generally, to the ecological crisis are ushering us into a new era of profound transformation. In this context, the rise of the concept of human rights in the French language draws attention, as it simultaneously strengthens gender equality and points to a new relationship between humanity and nature. It can thus be seen as a sign of a new theory of rights currently under construction, aimed at adapting rights and freedoms to these new challenges.However, the perspective remains that of green growth/weak sustainability. This is why this evolution implicitly raises the question of the implications and outcomes of a theory of degrowth-oriented rights induced by strong sustainability, which this article proposes to call a "humatured" theory of rights, designed to "humanize the nature" and "naturalize the humanity" (in the broad sense), with the goal of containing human consumption within the physical limits of the planet. The article argues that the development of such a theory, in democratic regimes, involves answering two key questions, to which it offers preliminary answers: what rebalancing of the different generations of human rights is needed to "produce less, share more, decide together"? and what redeployment of the guarantee of rights is required to achieve these same objectives?

La liberté d’association, fondement juridique d’une gestion décroissante des ressources naturelles

Garance Navarro-Ugé
The degrowth management of natural resources represents a major challenge in the context of the environmental crisis, giving rise to strong criticism of productivism, which is now unsustainable. Environmental commons are an alternative mode of resource management whose legal foundations are under discussion. Does freedom of association, a fundamental principle and legislative regime, allow for the declining management of natural resources? Using a methodology that is itself degrowth-oriented, how can we observe a right that already exists in the legal system—in France and Canada—and imagine how it could be adapted to the contemporary environmental challenge? This is the focus of this article. Due to its characteristics— subject individual and collective, no sharing of profits, democratic organization—freedom of association allows for the socio-legal effectiveness of several fundamental freedoms and provides a legal space for modes of organization outside of productivist principles. Thus, legal association could be a legal instrument for degrowth, a place for alternative law-making and non-market management. This analysis, which is initially descriptive, raises the question of the role of the state in regulating the associative commons. Next, looking ahead, the article questions the positive and negative obligations of the state in such a context. Should it act or not? Should it regulate or leave resource protection associations to their own devices? How can we ensure harmonious legal development and genuine freedom of association, while protecting individuals from its potential abuses?

Les monastères cisterciens, un modèle pour un monde appelé à la décroissance ?

Hugues Bouthinon-Dumas
The Cistercian monasteries that were established throughout Europe in the twelfth century show an experience of community life guided by the principles of self-sufficiency, sobriety and fraternity. The intention of the Cistercians to create these exemplary "little worlds" in the background of the vast world plagued by disturbances was essentially spiritual. Nevertheless, the form of community life that they were able to organize and implement constitutes a kind of historical prototype of later utopian experiments that sought to promote, by example and small-scale practice, a model of strong sustainability. This is why the early Cistercian experience serves as a source of inspiration for contemporary attempts to break with a socioeconomic system dominated by growth. In particular, the Cistercian rule presents itself as an instructive normative framework for imagining the legal form of a world destined for degrowth.

La forme d’un droit décroissanciel. Pistes de recherche à partir d’une réflexion collective

Margaux Coquet
On October 9 and 10, 2024, a symposium and a workshop were held at the Université de Montréal on the theme « The Contribution of Law to the Establishment of a Degrowth-Oriented World ». My contribution seeks to systematize and provide an initial analysis of the reflections developed during these two days, focusing specifically on the question of the form that law might take in a degrowth society. It explores the various proposals put forward by the participants at the October 9th symposium, as well as the discussions held during the October 10th workshop, in order to identify theoretical landmarks and avenues of inquiry that may lead to the conceptualization of degrowth-oriented legal forms. This contribution is structured around two central questions raised by the call for papers issued by the symposium organizers, namely : What are the sources of law in a degrowth-oriented world? and How should legal sanctions be conceived within such a framework ? With regard to the sources of law, the contribution successively examines : epistemological frameworks that may support the identification of degrowth-oriented legal norms; the principles guiding their validity and internal ordering; the modalities and levels at which law is produced; and the processes of co-creation and transmission of legal knowledge. Concerning the conception of legal sanctions, a distinction is drawn—and each briefly analyzed—between : coercive and deterrent sanctions; incentive-based, permissive, and protective sanctions; so-called « smart rules »; and reparations. The contribution concludes with a summary of the research avenues identified throughout the discussions.