Introduction: a jurisprudence of environmental governance?

The history of science shows that the evolution of scholarly investigation follows two lines of development. The first is that innovations undergo a transformation from relatively low efficiency to higher efficiency as the discovery is refined and applied; implementation skill is gained through experience; and incremental inventions that improve on the original are brought to bear. This phenomenon has been observed in many fields of knowledge. It is well illustrated by the trajectories of computer technology, psychological science, transport methods and in almost any other area of human endeavour where disciplined and purposeful development is applied.