Whilst that may possibly be true of the consciousness of the legal profession as a community, I suspect that view is a partial one as a result of the rather artificial world that lawyers inhabit, which Cormac Cullinan was forthright and candid enough to acknowledge when he spoke at ‘Earth is Community’ on Saturday 15 September.
http://www.earth-is-community.org.uk/
Meanwhile in the world as it actually exists, even leaving aside indigenous peoples and subsistence farmers entirely, small groups of people have been actively living according to Earth Jurisprudence for much longer, though often without the need for written law or statute to constrain them to do so.
The need for formal rules only seems to be felt when people form into communities established on an hierarchical, power-based system. These appear to arise when ownership becomes an issue – in other words when we cease nomadic existence and start to claim a quite imaginary right to the exploitation of a piece of land, almost inevitably on an exclusive basis.
Crystal Waters Permaculture Village is an example where this formalisation has taken place into an explicit set of by laws governing the human community intended to establish and safeguard its nature as a Permaculture community. Rights of a Wild Law character have been formally recognised for the entire Earth Community accordingly, with the exception of a few species of plant considered pests – groundsel in particular.
Although it had been an intentional community since 1975 (for a period of a rather dubious legal status), Crystal Waters began yet another incarnation in 1985 when Max Lindegger, one of the earliest and most committed movers of Permaculture (who has gone on to found the eco-village movement) was called in by the residents to redesign it as a Permaculture village.
This involved dividing the 259 hectares of exhausted farmland – originally cleared bush – and native eucalyptus forest into 80 residential lots arranged in clusters, each comprising of about one quarter of a hectare. The remainder of the land is held in common by a cooperative to which all owners and tenants belong and contribute to financially, in kind, and with their energy in various ways.
Legally this required the formulating an entirely new and quite complex legal structure, with a Body Corporate and a co-operative to which all residents belonged, and individual titles to the 80 lots.
The cooperative owns the land held in common and infrastructure, a number of buildings for community purposes, and a camp site. Residents requiring more land – for instance for growing crops commercially – can rent it from this body.
Physically it required the design of the site on Permaculture principles sympathetically handling the rights of existing beings – for instance trees – and the installation of the infrastructure – dams, access roads to the various clusters, drainage and a reticulated water supply.
The Body Corporate By-Laws, which came into force in 1987 (from memory) are clearly based entirely on Earth Jurisprudence principles.
They establish the primacy of the principles of Permaculture:
− ‘Care for the Earth and
− Care for the People and
− No use or activity upon any lot or upon the common property shall be performed or conducted contrary to such principles.’
In addition:
‘the flora and fauna are to be observed and enjoyed at all times and in such manner as will preserve the environment with full recognition of the environmental sensitivity of the area.’
Dogs and cats are specifically prohibited because of the serious negative impact these animals have on the native wildlife.
The by-laws can be found at
http://www.ecologicalsolutions.com.au/crystalwaters/history/by_laws.html
The population of the community seems to float at around 180 to 200 including about 60 children. One of the most valued features is the fact that the children can grow up in a natural environment in which they can roam freely and explore entirely unsupervised, without the usual preoccupations over safety and security, in the sure knowledge that they can seek out and be taken care of by supportive adults if need be. This also benefits parents, who are relieved of the unending pressure to supervise their offspring.
So successful have these by-laws been that Crystal Waters was awarded a UN World Habitat Award in 1996 for its "pioneering work in demonstrating new ways of low impact, sustainable living", and has won several other awards.
There are a number of web sites to browse. The overview at Max Lindegger’s EcoLogical Solutions site is perhaps the most authoritative:
http://www.ecologicalsolutions.com.au/crystalwaters/overview/overview.html
This includes an interesting review of what has been accomplished over 15 years, though the photo links are somewhat disappointing.
A better visual impression can be gained by clicking on the photo caption links on:
http://www.squidoo.com/crystalwaters
There is no such thing as a typical lot at Crystal Waters, with house designs of every type and ecological construction. They range from tipis and a converted railway carriage through to rammed earth and mud brick, by way of timber-framed and straw bale. However an example is
http://www.ecologicalsolutions.com.au/crystalwaters/real_estate/lot_73/lot_73.htm
A sample of businesses currently being run by community residents are
EcoLogical Solutions
http://www.ecologicalsolutions.com.au/index.php
Crystal Waters Guest House (nice photos)
http://www.waterbreath.com/welcome.htm
SEED International
http://www.crystalwaterscollege.org.au/sections/faculty/SEED_Int.html
The Village Organic Farm
http://www.thevillageorganicfarm.com.au/crystal-waters.html
Regrettably few of the images give a fair impression of this extraordinary, and extraordinary beautiful, place. But a nice account of a visit by someone from the Findhorn Community aptly entitled ‘Treading Lightly on the Earth’ can be found at
http://www.findhorn.org/forums/global/story.php?id=317
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