The Legal Relationship Between Present and Future Generations: An Intertemporal Perspective on Intergenerational Equity

The legal relationship between present and future generations is shaped by the concept of intergenerational equity. This concept and its structures of implementation are still controversial today. The present book examines two connected research questions. First, it analyses the legal contents and structures of the concept of intergenerational equity as of today. In this regard, the book addresses two manifestations of intergenerational equity: a general conception and a specific doctrine of intergenerational equity that both differ in their contents as well as their legally binding character. Furthermore, the operationalisation of the concept is still in progress as far as the respective duty-bearers and potential right-holders as well as means of representation are concerned. In this context, the various attempts and actual forms of representation of future generations in policy-making and international and national judicial proceedings are analysed and categorised. The first part of the book comes to the conclusion that intergenerational equity from a contemporaneous perspective is continuously evolving between lex lata and lex ferenda.
Therefore and second, the book examines which legal understanding the present generation would and should base its answer on from an intertemporal law perspective on the legal relationship between the present and the future. Starting from the existing doctrine of intertemporal law, this doctrine cannot be applied par for par to the concept of intergenerational equity due to formal as well as substantial reasons. The inherently intertemporal nature of intergenerational equity as well as the irreversible impacts of most intergenerational violations require a shift of perspective with regard to intergenerational equity. The book establishes a modified doctrine of intertemporal law that is adequately applicable to disputes on intergenerational equity.

Ammar Bustami studied law in Trier and Bordeaux and finished his First State Examination in Trier in 2018 with a specialization on Public International and European Union Law. From 2018 to 2022, he worked as research assistant at a Chair in the International Law of the Sea and International Environmental Law, Public International Law and Public Law. Afterwards, he absolved his legal clerkship in the state of Niedersachsen with placements in the Higher Administrative Court of Lüneburg, an animal rights association and an environmental law firm.He started working as a lawyer in 2025 at the same law firm in Hamburg with a focus on environmental law and animal protection law. He still regularly publishes and teaches in the fields of public international law, environmental law and animal protection law.