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The Changing Concept Of Animals As Property, Vincent P. Mccarthy

Attitudes Towards Animals Collection

Enforced and maintained by a legal superstructure that regulated every aspect of a black [slave's] social, political, economic, and religious life, his property status continued until the middle of the nineteenth century when Congress passed the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution, which overturned the Dred Scott decision and recognized that a black human being had legally protectible rights.

There are some signs in recent legal decisions that a similar evolution in the status of animals is taking place: judges are beginning to draw distinctions between animals and property.

But can we ever expect that the courts will …