Animal Law Commons^™

Letting The Apes Run The Zoo: Using Tort Law To Provide Animals With A Legal Voice, Tania Rice

Pepperdine Law Review

Science is increasingly showing us that animals have many cognitive similarities with humans. In addition to calls for changes in our animal protection statutes, members of the legal community have begun debating over whether animals, or a certain category of animals, should be granted legal rights. This approach has the potential for drastic societal ramifications. David S. Favre has proposed a tort action for animals as a compromise to the animal rights debate. This Comment explores the different approaches to seeking improved conditions for animals, and proposes an adjusted tort cause of action in response to criticisms of Favre's tort.

Antimony: The Use, Rights, And Regulation Of Laboratory Animals , Brenda L. Thomas

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

If All Other Options Fail: The Plight Of Wild Horses And The Dubois Case For Horse Slaughtering, Brendan Vandor

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Caveat

Robert Redford recently joined forces with former presidential candidate Bill Richardson to stop the return of horse slaughtering to the United States. Few among us would bet against that duo in their fight for a cause that appears on its face to be unassailably just. Yet, horse slaughtering is a highly complex issue that boasts its fair share of credible supporters, and the activity is poised for a revival after a six-year ban if Redford, Richardson, and various animal rights groups do not win a recently-brought federal lawsuit. This Comment recommends a multi-pronged approach to solving the problem of wild …

Consistently Inconsistent: The Constitution And Animals, Marianne Sullivan

Animal Law Review

No abstract provided.

Environment, Ethics, And The Factory Farm, David N. Cassuto

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Transcript of Symposium: Ethical Implications of the Commercial Use of Animals.

What are the ethics behind factory farming? What are the ethical implications? Specifically, I'd like to focus on the environmental implications. But I define environmental implications a little differently than a lot of folks because I teach animal law.

The Thirteenth Amendment Won't Help Free Willy., Sheri Flannery

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Orcas are not afforded any relief under the Thirteenth Amendment. Animal rights advocates, namely People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), alleged animals have the right to be free from slavery and involuntary servitude as guaranteed by the Thirteenth Amendment. Although the Thirteenth Amendment has been extended beyond African slavery, its protections have never been granted to anything other than human beings. The United States Supreme Court’s examination and interpretation of the Thirteenth Amendment concluded that animals are not afforded such protections under this amendment. The Court reasoned that the Thirteenth Amendment only applied to humans and not animals. …

The Universal Declaration Of Animal Rights Or The Creation Of A New Equilibrium Between Species, Jean-Marc Neumann

Animal Law Review

This Essay is a translation of the author’s original French text. It examines the Universal Declaration of Animal Rights of 1978, which lays out fundamental rights for animals in fourteen articles. This Essay explores the origins of and influences behind the original Declaration, as well as details the changes which were brought to it in a revised version in 1989. It then examines the scope of the Declaration and why it has not had the far-reaching implications its authors once hoped for. Finally, this Essay questions what the Declaration means for the future of animal rights and whether the document …

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 …

What Is The Scope Of The Duty To Provide Veterinary Care?, Susan J. Hankin

Faculty Scholarship

State criminal laws prohibiting cruelty to animals -- which includes both abuse and neglect -- have provided the primary means through which our legal system has protected animals. In some states, including Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, these laws include explicit provisions that require owners to provide their animals with veterinary care. In other jurisdictions, such a duty has been implied from more general anti-cruelty language. None of these laws, however, make clear what level of care is required. They also leave unanswered the question of whether the treatment choices of owners who do seek care for an …

Exploring Animal Rights As An Imperative For Human Welfare, Stephen A. Plass

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Live Free Or Die: On Their Own Terms: Bringing Animal-Rights Philosophy Down To Earth By Lee Hall, Joel Marks

Animal Law Review

This book review examines Lee Hall’s new book, which presents an innovative animal rights theory: wild animals, due to their autonomous nature, are endowed with rights, but domesticated animals lack rights because they are not autonomous. With that theory in mind, Hall outlines ideas about how humans are obligated to treat both wild and domestic animals. Hall first argues that the rights of wild animals require that humans let them alone. Yet, despite the fact that domestic animals lack rights under Hall’s theory, Hall argues that humans are required to care for them because it is humans who brought them …

All Dogs Go To Heaven... Or Divorce Court: New Jersey Unleashes A Subjective Value Consideration To Resolve Pet Custody Litigation In Houseman V. Dare, Eric Kotloff

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Owning What You Eat: The Discourse Of Food, David N. Cassuto

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This essay examines the role of communication in the formation of law and social norms and the implications of that role for animal law and ethics. Part III contextualizes animal law within contemporary risk society. Part IV looks at how efficiency has transformed from an economic concept into a normative guideline and discusses how that transformation has affected animals and agriculture. It tracks the rise of industrial agriculture and ties it to this fundamental misunderstanding of the concept of efficiency. The essay concludes with some thoughts on how to reformulate contemporary notions of efficiency and ethics to account for the …

Ringling Brothers On Trial: Circus Elephants And The Endangered Species Act, Mark Eichelman

Animal Law Review

In February 2009, the case of American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, et al. v. Feld Entertainment, Inc. was heard in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The plaintiffs, four animal rights organizations and one former elephant handler for Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, brought a citizen suit against Feld Entertainment, Inc. (FEI), owner of Ringling Brothers, alleging that the Circus’ use of bullhooks and leg tethers on its endangered Asian elephants constituted illegal “takings” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). FEI argued that the plaintiffs did not have standing to …

Animal Ethics And The Law, Bernard Rollin

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

Everyone reading this Article is doubtless aware of the woeful lack of legal protection for farm animals in the United States. Not only do the laws fail to assure even a minimally decent life for the majority of these animals, they do not provide protection against the most egregious treatment. As both a philosopher who has helped articulate new emerging societal ethics for animals, and as one who has successfully developed laws embodying that ethic—notably the 1985 federal laws protecting laboratory animals—I will stress the direction we need to move in the future to enfranchise farm animals. I have seen …

The Environmental Effects Of Cruelty To Agricultural Animals, Kyle H. Landis-Marinello

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

Laws criminalizing animal abuse should apply to the agricultural industry. When we exempt the agricultural industry from these laws, factory farms increase production to unnaturally high levels. This increased production causes devastating environmental effects, such as climate change, water shortages, and the loss of topsoil. In light of these effects, the law needs to do much more to regulate the agricultural industry, and the first step should be to criminalize cruelty to agricultural animals. This would force the industry to slow down production to more natural levels that are much less harmful to the environment.

An Argument For The Basic Legal Rights Of Farmed Animals, Steven M. Wise

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

The most abused beings in the United States are those whom we raise and kill for food. The numbers of dead are staggering. Most are victims of the severe and almost entirely unregulated practices that Americans permit on their factory farms. According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, in 2007, a total of 10.4 billion land-based animals were killed by the American food industry. These included 9.4 billion broiler chickens, 450 million laying hens, 317 million turkeys, 121 million pigs, 39 million bovines, 28 million ducks, 10 million rabbits, and 4 million sheep and goats—fifty …

Animal Cruelty Laws And Factory Farming, Joseph Vining

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

“Should laws criminalizing animal abuse apply to animals raised for food?” The answer is yes, and yes especially because farm animals are generally now under the control of business corporations. State and federal criminal law have proved critical in modifying corporate policy and practice in other areas, a current example being worker safety. Criminal liability today would include criminal liability of the corporate entity itself, and would thus also introduce the most effective regulation of individual handling of farm animals—regulation by the corporation, which has methods and resources public agencies cannot match. We have a background public policy of humane …

One Bad Day: Thoughts On The Difference Between Animal Rights And Animal Welfare, Neil D. Hamilton

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

The lawsuit pitting the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals against the New Jersey Department of Agriculture brings into sharp focus the issue of animal rights versus animal welfare that has been dividing animal activists, farmers, and society for decades. On one side are proponents of animal rights—a set of rights articulated by humans but granted to animals to govern how we treat them. For many believers this includes the right not to be owned and certainly not to be eaten. On the other side are proponents of animal welfare—also a set of human derived standards …

A Case Study On Cruelty To Farm Animals: Lessons Learned From The Hallmark Meat Packing Case, Nancy Perry, Peter Brandt

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

“I need the public to understand that my office takes all cases involving animal cruelty very seriously . . . [and i]t doesn’t matter whether the mistreated animal is a beloved family pet or a cow at a slaughterhouse. Unnecessary cruelty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent allowed by law.” San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael A. Ramos (February 15, 2008) One morning in January 2008, images of horrific animal cruelty were blasted by Internet, television, and print media throughout the country. The story was all the more shocking in that the animals at …

Building Our Future, Joyce Tischler

Animal Law Review

No abstract provided.

Two Major Flaws Of The Animal Rights Movement, Geordie Duckler

Animal Law Review

In its current guise, animal rights advocacy imposes few intellectual demands on its proponents, usually requiring little more than a colorful Web site and a college dictionary, the former to construct an audience, and the latter to provide the emotion-laden phrases needed to inflame that audience into supporting stringent penalties for animal-related crimes. Hard thought is not really essential for animal rights advocates to be able to proclaim an end to animal abuse or an allegiance to easing animal suffering, and the standard advocate toolkit simply need not include “rational legal analysis” among the apparatus utilized to rail against mistreatment, …

Lessons Learned: Acting As Guardian/Special Master In The Bad Newz Kennels Case, Rebecca J. Huss

Law Faculty Publications

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia appointed Rebecca Huss as the guardian/special master of the pit bulls that were the subject of the case against Michael Vick relating to dog fighting. In April of 2007, the Surry County Sheriff's Department seized fifty-three pit bulls from Vick's home in Virginia. According to the facts set forth in the plea agreement, dogs on the property were killed and subjected to violent dog fights. Similar to human victims of abuse, the dogs needed someone to represent their best interests during litigation. Huss was in charge of determining whether …

A Contractarian View Of Animal Rights: Insuring Against The Possibility Of Being A Non-Human Animal, Julie Hilden

Animal Law Review

Contemporary research results regarding non-human animals’ intelligence, emotional life, and capacity for reciprocity strongly suggest the need for a sweeping re-evaluation of their legal status as mere property. In this essay, the author will contend that the contractarian theory of philosopher John Rawls provides an ideal basis for this re-evaluation. Rawls’ theory holds that the just rules for a given real-world society are those that would rationally be chosen behind an imaginary “veil of ignorance,” where the deciding parties are placed in an “original position” in which they have no idea of their personal qualities or the positions they will …

Think Or Be Damned: The Problematic Case Of Higher Cognition In Animals And Legislation For Animal Welfare, Lesley J. Rogers, Gisela Kaplan

Animal Law Review

Recent discoveries of higher cognitive abilities in some species of birds and mammals are bringing about radical changes in our attitudes towards animals and will lead to changes in legislation for the protection of animals. We fully support these developments, but at the same time we recognize that the scientific study of higher cognition in animals has touched on only a small number of vertebrate species. Accordingly, we warn that calls to extend rights, or to at least better welfare protection, for the handful of species that have revealed their intelligence to us may be counterproductive. While this would improve …

The Day May Come: Legal Rights For Animals, Tom Regan

Animal Law Review

This article examines the main arguments used for denying moral rights to nonhuman animals, the rights to life and bodily integrity in particular. Because these arguments are deficient, animals should not be denied legal rights on the basis of their presumed moral inferiority to humans.

Can We Stand For It? Amending The Endangered Species Act With An Animal-Suit Provision, Katherine A. Burke

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.

Integrating Animal Interests Into Our Legal System, David Favre

Animal Law Review

This article explores the obstacles to obtaining legal rights for animals both within the animal rights movement and within the broader political context. The author examines in which arena legal change might best be sought—the courts, the legislature, state governments, or the federal government. Finally, it makes a number of suggestions as to what type of laws would be the most successful in advancing the interests of animals.

The Evolution Of Animal Law Since 1950, Steven M. Wise

State of the Animals 2003

Over the last half century, the law has assumed an increasingly important place in animal protection even as it has begun to point in the direction of true legal rights for at least some nonhuman animals. In this chapter I briefly discuss five aspects of the law: anti-cruelty statutes; the necessity of obtaining standing to litigate on behalf of the interests of nonhuman animals; evolving protections for great apes; the movement toward legal rights for at least some nonhuman animals; and the state of legal education concerning animal protection.

A Review Of Minding Animals: Awareness, Emotions, And Heart By Dr. Mark Bekoff, Michael Tobias

Animal Law Review

No abstract provided.