Environmental Protection in Ancient Rome

Did ancient Romans realized that they needed to protect the enviromment through legality? A study of such literature as History of Nature by Pliny, Sr, Against Verres by Cicero, and On Architecture: 10 Books by Vitruvius, reveals that ancientRomans paid attention to Mother Nature. By analyzing three practical cases concerning respectively the legalization of preventing water pollution, the illegal emission of waste, and the use of lead, we discover that although the interdictum "Actio de effusis vel deiectis" and the "Actio negatoria", as three procedural means in private law did produce indirect legal effects on the proctection of the environment. Therefore, from the perspective of division between public and private laws, it can be concluded that there was no legal department specifically for the environmental protection in the time of the Ancient Roman Empire.