Animal Rights Law

About this book

Do animals have legal rights? This pioneering book tells readers everything they need to know about animal rights law.

Using straightforward examples from over 30 legal systems from both the civil and common law traditions, and based on popular courses run by the authors at the Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights, the book takes the reader from the earliest anti-cruelty laws to modern animal welfare laws, to recent attempts to grant basic rights and personhood to animals. To help readers understand this legal evolution, it explains the ethics, legal theory, and social issues behind animal rights and connected topics such as property, subjecthood, dignity, and human rights.

The book's companion website provides access to briefs on the latest developments in this fast-changing area, and gives readers the tools to investigate their own legal systems with a list of key references to the latest cases, legislation, and jurisdiction-specific bibliographic references.

Rich in exercises and study aids, this easy-to-use introduction is a prime resource for students from all disciplines and for anyone else who wants to understand how animals are protected by the law.

Contents

Introduction
1. The Current Legal Status of Animals
I. Introduction
II. The Property Status of Animals
III. Legislation Protecting Animals
IV. Constitutional Law
V. International Law
VI. Animal Protection Laws in Practice
VII. Conclusion

2. Welfarism vs Abolitionism, a Dichotomy?
I. Introduction
II. Classic Welfarism
III. Abolitionism
IV. New Welfarism
V. Beyond the Dichotomy
VI. Conclusion

3. Philosophical Foundations of Animal Rights
I. Introduction
II. Peter Singer's Utilitarianism
III. Tom Regan's Deontological Approach
IV. Martha Nussbaum's Capabilities Approach
V. Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka's Political Theory
VI. Critical Approaches to Animal Rights
VII. Conclusion

4. The Legal Theory of Animal Rights
I. Introduction
II. Are Animals Fit to have Legal Rights?
III. Do Animals Already have Legal Rights?
IV. Would Animals Need to Become Legal Persons?
V. Conclusion

5. Animal Rights and Human Rights
I. Introduction
II. Should Only Humans have Human Rights?
III. Should Animals have Similar Rights to Humans?
IV. How Could Human and Animal Rights be Reconciled Legally?
V. Conclusion

6. Animal Rights in Litigation
I. Introduction
II. Animals and the Issue of Legal Standing to Bring an Action
III. Animals as Subjects of Habeas Corpus
IV. Fundamental Rights and Personhood Litigation Beyond Habeas Corpus
V. Conclusion

7. Animal Rights in Legislation
I. Introduction
II. Domestic Proposals for Animal Rights Laws
III. International Proposals for Animal Rights Laws
IV. Drafting Animal Rights Laws
V. Conclusion

8. Animal Rights as a Social Justice Movement
I. Introduction
II. The Animal Rights Movement as Abolitionist
III. Animal Rights and Connections with Other Rights Movements
IV. Learning Lessons
V. Conclusion
Conclusion

Customer Reviews

Biography

Raffael N. Fasel is an Affiliated Lecturer in the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, UK, and a Senior Researcher in Law at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Sean C. Butler is a Fellow of St Edmund's College, Cambridge, UK, and an Affiliated Lecturer in the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, UK.