caa a22 4500 463194683 CHVBK 20180406164919.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170326e20070301xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10669-007-9020-0 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10669-007-9020-0 Riverbanks and the law: The arbitrary nature of river boundaries in New South Wales, Australia [Elektronische Daten] [Elizabeth Lamaro, Robert Stokes, Mark Taylor] Key aspects of environmental management exist within a legislative framework. The Rivers and Foreshores Improvement Act 1948 (NSW) and several Regional Environmental Plans created under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) make reference to ‘the top of the bank' for defining areas of protected land adjacent to rivers, within which development consent may be required. It is an arbitrary term and its use within the Rivers and Foreshores Improvement Act 1948 (NSW) leads to confusion. This paper examines the range of definitions of ‘the top of the bank' in respect of natural watercourses and aims to provide a more lucid and effective definition that will clarify existing ambiguities in legal interpretation. The paper examines the historical origins of the phrase ‘top of the bank', finding that stereotyped Eurocentric views of what a river ‘should look like' have impaired the legal definition for Australian rivers, thereby influencing common law and the development of statutory definitions. Judicial applications of the phrase ‘top of the bank' are examined from a geomorphological perspective, demonstrating the misconceptions of the term in a legal context. The paper identifies the existence of widespread support for the need to protect land adjacent to rivers in the interests of environmental, economic and social sustainability. It concludes by calling for legislative reform that is both tailored to the individual site and consistent with overarching goals at the catchment scale. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 2007 Riparian protection nationallicence Top of the bank nationallicence Eurocentric misconceptions nationallicence Water Management Act 2000 (NSW) nationallicence Rivers & Foreshores Improvement Act 1948 (NSW) nationallicence Environmental Planning & Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) nationallicence Lamaro Elizabeth Department of Physical Geography, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Sydney, Australia aut Stokes Robert Department of Business Law, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Sydney, Australia aut Taylor Mark Department of Physical Geography, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Sydney, Australia aut The Environmentalist Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers; http://www.springer-ny.com 27/1(2007-03-01), 131-142 0251-1088 27:1<131 2007 27 10669 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10669-007-9020-0 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10669-007-9020-0 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Lamaro Elizabeth Department of Physical Geography, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Sydney, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Stokes Robert Department of Business Law, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Sydney, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Taylor Mark Department of Physical Geography, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Sydney, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- The Environmentalist Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers; http://www.springer-ny.com 27/1(2007-03-01), 131-142 0251-1088 27:1<131 2007 27 10669 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer