The work presents the most important systemic issues concerning the legal regulation relating to the environment, in particular its protection. It synthetically discusses: normative definitions of "environment" and "environmental protection", sources of environmental law (with particular emphasis on the constitutional foundations of environmental protection), rights in relation to the environment, entities performing tasks in the field of environmental management and protection, basic types of legal instruments for environmental management and protection, selected consequences of lawful impact on the environment, and the more important instruments of responsibility for violations of environmental regulations.