Regulation by the state

It is clear that private law had two problems as a mechanism for deciding which modern industries and activities were permissible. Firstly, its ideas of the rights of landowners had been shaped by an agrarian society, and were not quick to adapt to the problems of a growing industrial economy. Secondly, the standards for acceptable use of land were too vague to guide those building factories. The solution was state regulation. This could ensure that accidents were prevented by locating dangerous activities well away from populated areas.

This approach was not new. The Novísima Recopilación (1805) contained pre-industrialisation local rules about the construction of buildings and of works which might result in harm. Thus, it was forbidden to build polluting workshops and craft industries within the conurbation of Madrid, except on the outskirts of the city.

From 1810, France had a national scheme for authorising the location of dangerous and noxious industrial activities. For example, this legislation specified how far boilers had to be located away from houses. This approach was spread to the countries France then occupied, like Spain and the Netherlands. In England, many new activities were authorised by specific Acts of Parliament, or regulated public health laws (from 1848) or general planning laws from 1909