Property and contract in a climate of disruption: just processes for change in private agreements made for public purposes that burden land

Abstract This article analyses how private agreements that burden land respond to environmental and social change. It argues that, where there is a public environmental purpose, this should be reflected in the legal rules governing the agreement. It explores the alteration of conservation covenants by judicial process in English law, focusing on the public dimensions of justice. How could private law recognize better the responsibilities that covenants generate to human and non-human publics? Doctrinal changes to the Environment Act 2021 are suggested, including the introduction of a presumption against judicial alteration of a conservation covenant where there are ongoing conservation purposes, complemented by changes to how judicial discretion is exercised. The hybrid public-private nature of conservation covenants also demands new procedural forms. Further opportunities for human publics to participate, perhaps modelled on those found in land-use planning law, as well as exploration of new means of engaging with non-human publics, are needed.