Animal Law Commons^™

Human Drama, Animal Trials: What The Medieval Animal Trials Can Teach Us About Justice For Animals, Katie Sykes

Animal Law Review

The legal system generally does little to protect animals, and one aspect of its inadequacy is a matter of formal structure: under United States and Canadian law, animals are not legal “persons” with an independent right to the protections of the legal system. There are calls to expand the status of animals in the law by providing them with legal standing, the right to be represented by a lawyer, and other formal protections. But, in a way, some of this has happened before. There is a long history, primarily from the medieval and early modern periods, of animals being tried …

Animal Testing In Cosmetics: Recent Developments In The European Union And The United States, Laura Donnellan

Animal Law Review

Animal welfare has become a recent issue in the policy of the European Union. Since the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1957, the welfare of animals was only considered in relation to the proper functioning of the common market. Animals were seen as commodities whose interests were intertwined with agricultural and environmental policy. Over the years, the position has changed somewhat. Although a Treaty basis exists for animal welfare, the protection of animals has not yet been recognized as an important policy area of its own, and thus worthy of legal protection. As a positive step in …

Confronting Barriers To The Courtroom For Animal Advocates: Legal Standing For Animals And Advocates, David Cassuto, Jonathan Lovvorn, Katherine Meyer, Joyce Tischler

Animal Law Review

Panelists: David Cassuto, Jonathan Lovvorn, and Katherine Meyer

Moderator: Joyce Tischler

For animal advocates, one of the most significant barriers to the courtroom is standing. In order to litigate on behalf of an animal’s interests in federal court, the advocate must first establish standing by meeting three requirements: (1) the plaintiff must have suffered an injury in fact, (2) the injury must be causally connected to the act about which the plaintiff is complaining, and (3) the court must be able to redress the injury. When it comes to non-human animals, how does an advocate demonstrate an injury to establish …

Some Preliminary Thoughts On Permitting Animals To Sue In Contract And Tort, Henry Cohen

Laws and Legislation Collection

Animal protection statutes are of course extremely valuable, and they might be made even more so if they were formulated to give private rights of action to their beneficiaries--the animals themselves. But what I would like to explore here is the idea of extending common law rights of action to animals. Admittedly, permitting animals to sue in contract and tort now seems fanciful, but my hope is that this article will provide an initial step toward bringing it about.

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 …