Gordhan, Sonam; (2025) Climate Change and the Common Law Method: Towards a Resilient Account of Climate Change Adjudication. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

Climate change raises complex legal disputes and the role of courts in resolving them is not a foregone conclusion. The polycentricity, dynamism and inherent unpredictability of climate change can pressure conventional understandings of adjudication. These pressures mean that questions arise about the role of courts in a way that does not arise in more predictable disputes, where their capacity is implicitly understood through repeated practice. Any understanding of the capacity of courts starts with their method and process of reasoning. There is therefore a need for scholars to understand how these cases are being reasoned, and whether they are being reasoned ‘well’. The function of this thesis is to provide a thick analysis of climate change adjudication and in turn shows that reasoning climate cases ‘well’ requires courts to engage thoughtfully and deliberately with the full facets of their adjudicative process. It builds this argument by explaining that existing frames of analysis do not account for the pressures that climate change poses for adjudication and nor do they engage deeply with the reasoning process of courts. These frames of analysis therefore do not provide a robust method of evaluating whether climate cases are reasoned well. The thesis addresses this gap by exploring the common law model of adjudication and examines three core facets of courts in climate change legal disputes: their dispute resolution function; the doctrine of precedent and their institutional and constitutional competence. A ‘thick’ analysis of these features demonstrates both their critical importance for robust legal reasoning, and their inherent complexity and multidimensional nature. In doing so, it forges a path for the analysis of climate legal disputes that is not concerned with the outcomes of these cases, but rather the reasoning process that courts employ to resolve them.

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