Here we argue that sociolegal processes can not only restructure social relationships through setting legal precedent but can also restructure socioenvironmental relationships through setting what we call “environmental precedent.” By environmental precedent we mean the environmental consequences of legal processes, environmental consequences that then become the new, dynamic material reality for future legal processes. We apply the concept of environmental precedent to a legal history of the Chicago River, using this case to illustrate how interactions between sociolegal and environmental processes can set environmental precedent in a way that reshuffles the social and material foundations of future legal processes.

中文翻译：

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打破鸿沟：在芝加哥河中树立环境先例

在这里，我们认为，社会法律程序不仅可以通过建立法律先例来重构社会关系，而且可以通过设置我们所谓的“环境先例”来重构社会环境关系。通过环境先例，我们指的是法律程序的环境后果，而环境后果随后成为未来法律程序的新的动态物质现实。我们将环境先例的概念应用到芝加哥河的法律历史中，以此案例说明社会法律与环境程序之间的相互作用如何以重塑未来法律程序的社会和物质基础的方式设定环境先例。