Compensation in Flood Risk Management with a Focus on Shifts in Compensation Regimes Regarding Prevention, Mitigation and Disaster Management
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18352/ulr.279Keywords:
water law, flood risk management, compensation regimes, no-fault liability, public lawAbstract
In the Netherlands, the history of water management and water safety especially, goes back centuries. Compensation of damage caused by lawful acts of an administrative body (no-fault liability) is developed mostly in the field of water management and has quite a long history as well. The compensation of no-fault liability in the Netherlands since its introduction has been part of public law and not of civil law. This does not mean that the administration cannot be held liable for wrongful actions, in which case private law is applied. There is a strict distinction between wrongful and lawful acts of the administration: both can cause damage, but the way they are compensated differs: for lawful acts, public law is applied and for wrongful acts civil law (tort law) is applied. This article only considers public law, because it is the most important branch of law for the compensation of damage caused in the field of water safety. The field of water safety and flood risk management has seen many new developments, of which integration is the latest one. However, the course of flood risk management tends towards more segmentation of responsibilities. No-fault liability and other questions of compensation are also areas that are developing towards more integration. Assessment of no-fault liability in the field of water safety management cannot be made without taking into consideration the historical development of the responsibility of the state for water management tasks in general. In this contribution, the author addresses the historical development of responsibilities of the state for water management tasks, recent developments in this area and the system of no-fault liability regarding measures to prevent flooding.Downloads
Published
2014-05-08
Issue
Section
Compensation in the European Union: Natura 2000 and Water Law
License
Copyright (c) 2014 The Author(s)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:- Authors retain copyright and grant Utrecht Law Review right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in the Utrecht Law Review.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in Utrecht Law Review.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
Once accepted for publication, the final version of the paper must be provided. A completed and signed copyright form, which will be sent by the Managing Editor, must accompany each paper. By signing the form the author states to accept the copyright notice of Utrecht Law Review. The copyright notice for authors is also included in the copyright acceptance form.