Title: Views, property rights, and New Zealand land reform

Authors: John Page, Ann Brower

Addresses: University of New England School of Law, Armidale, NSW, Australia. ' Lincoln University, Lincoln, New Zealand

Abstract: This paper argues that the right to view has matured far beyond its origins into a wider thing of scenic amenity. The antiquated limitations of the common law that denied view the status of property should be revisited. This reappraisal is all the more cogent given long standing precedent in the USA, the heightened place of the environment in property rights regimes, and the current turmoil over the Crown Pastoral Land Act (1998) land reform on the South Island. We conclude that it is legitimate for the Crown to set a fee against a runholder with exclusive pasturage rights on Crown land for the use and enjoyment of the scenic amenity right.

Keywords: New Zealand; right to view; resource economics; landscape commodification; option values; real estate; public land; land reform; property rights; Crown land; scenic amenity; views.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBG.2008.018307

International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 2008 Vol.2 No.4, pp.468 - 493

Published online: 15 May 2008 *

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