This book presents the case for legal protection for animals based on humanity’s shared interests and destinies with the animal kingdom. To underscore the urgent need for legal reform, the book documents how animals are in crisis, with separate discussions on animals in entertainment, research, fashion, the food industry, and animals in our homes, as well as issues that impact wildlife and aquatic animals. In each of the foregoing areas, there is a discussion of major developments for animals across the globe, the objective being to demonstrate how the U.S. is out of step with other major countries in its legal treatment of animals. The importance of media as a driver of change is also considered. This background culminates to the heart of the book, which discusses and analyzes the link between human rights and animal rights, with nine areas explored (e.g., loss of biodiversity; environmental destruction; zoonotic diseases; world hunger; violence). Challenges to legal reforms are also explored, including issues associated with weak laws, the failure to enforce existing laws, and governmental agencies that tend to overlook the actions of industries. Finally, the book explores the development of animal law and the trajectory of current laws, with analysis of developing ‘rights of nature’ laws and ‘legal personhood’ status for animals.

Why do people harm, injure, torture and kill animals? This book evaluates the reasons why these crimes are committed and outlines the characteristics of the animal offender. It considers ethical and value judgements made about animals and the tacit acknowledgement and justification of unacceptable criminal behaviour towards the harming of animals made by offenders. Situating animal abuse, wildlife crime, illegal wildlife trading and other unlawful activities directed at animals firmly within Green Criminology, the book contends that this is a distinct, multi-dimensional type of criminality which persists despite the introduction of relevant legislation. Taking a broad approach, the book considers the killing and harming of animals in an international context and examines the effectiveness of current legislation, policy and sentencing. Including a section on further reading and useful organizations, this book is a valuable exploration into perspectives on the responsibility owed by man to animals as part of broader ecological and legal concerns. It will interest criminologists, ecologists, animal protectionists and those interested in law and society and law and the environment.

This open access book contains 13 contributions on global animal law, preceded by an introduction which explains key concepts and methods. Global Animal Law refers to the sum of legal rules and principles (both state-made and non-state-made) governing the interaction between humans and other animals, on a domestic, local, regional, and international level. Global animal law is the response to the mismatch between almost exclusively national animal-related legislation on the one hand, and the global dimension of the animal issue on the other hand. The chapters lay some historical foundations in the ius naturae et gentium, examine various aspects of how national and international law traditionally deals with animals as commodity; and finally suggest new legal concepts and protective strategies. The book shows numerous entry points for animal issues in international law and at the same time shifts the focus and scope of inquiry.

This book is an interdisciplinary study centred on the political and legal position of animals in liberal democracies. With due concern for both animals and the sustainability of liberal democracies, The Open Society and Its Animals seeks to redefine animals’ political-legal position in the most successful political model of our time. Advancements in modern science point out that many animals are sentient and that, like humans, they have certain elementary interests. The revised perception of animals as beings with elementary interests raises questions concerning the liberal democratic institutional framework: does a liberal democracy have a responsibility towards the animals on its territory, and if so, what kind? Do animals need legal animal rights and lawyers to represent them in court, and should they also be represented in parliament? And how much change of this kind could a liberal democracy really endure? Vink addresses these and other pressing questions relating to the political and legal position of animals in this persuasive and authoritative work, compelling us to reconsider the relationship between the open society and the animals in it.

Cass Sunstein and Martha Nussbaum bring together an all-star cast of contributors to explore the legal and political issues that underlie the campaign for animal rights and the opposition to it. Addressing ethical questions about ownership, protection against unjustified suffering, and the ability of animals to make their own choices free from human control, the authors offer numerous different perspectives on animal rights and animal welfare. They show that whatever one's ultimate conclusions, the relationship between human beings and nonhuman animals is being fundamentally rethought. This book offers a state-of-the-art treatment of that rethinking.

Drawing on our growing knowledge of animal cognition, this book provides a critical analysis of the use of animals in the legal regime and the practice of toxicity testing. Although animal abuse has become a major issue, animal testing remains largely in the shadows, even though it involves substantial cruelty. Toxicity testing, in particular, imposes considerable pain, suffering and ultimately death on those laboratory animals – often mice – chosen to demonstrate the characteristics of chemicals and their commercial potential. This book documents and critically analyzes the animal protection laws of the European Union, the United States and Canada. It not only examines the tests themselves and the suffering they inflict on animals but also exposes the failure of both the testing and the toxicity laws to effectively protect human health and the environment. Finally, the book takes up the potential of alternative non-animal testing methods to replace the current regimen and to reduce current damage to health and the environment. This book will be of interest to scholars and researchers in the fields of animal studies, environmental law and sociolegal studies, as well as activists and others with an interest in ethics and animal rights.

This book explores the movement towards the recognition of animal sentience in the law. It explores some first principles underpinning the recognition of animal sentience, including the nature and scope of sentience provisions, the connection between sentience and empathy, drafting issues, and the relationship between sentience recognition and animal rights. The book highlights the operation of animal sentience provisions in several jurisdictions throughout the world and considers some sector-specific applications and limitations of animal sentience recognition. The first book of its kind, it draws together different perspectives as to what this novel turn in the law might mean and where it might lead. The chapters provide a full picture of what the recognition of animal sentience might entail for humans, animals, and our environment, as well as the experiences of different legal jurisdictions in pursuing recognition of animal sentience. This collection is an essential read for both practitioners and academics alike, as well as any group seeking to advance the interests of non-human animals.

An Interdisciplinary Approach Criminal Law provides students with an integrated framework for understanding the U.S. criminal justice system with a diverse and inclusive interdisciplinary approach and thematic focus. Authors Katheryn Russell-Brown and Angela J. Davis go beyond the law and decisions in court cases to consider and integrate issues of race, gender, and socio-economic status with their discussion of criminal law. Material from the social sciences is incorporated to highlight the intersection between criminal law and key social issues. Case excerpts and detailed case summaries, used to highlight important principles of criminal law, are featured throughout the text. The coverage is conceptual and practical, showing students how the criminal law applies in the “real world”—not just within the pages of a textbook.

This book considers the efficacy of the common regulatory model of the licensing regime as a means of regulating animal use in England, with a particular focus on wild animals and the regime’s ability to ensure animal welfare needs are met. Using information gleaned from over 550 inspection reports relating to the period 2008 through 2019, obtained using FOI Act requests, the book analyses the extent to which animals used by these industries are protected by law. Tyson analyses the limitations present in the practical application of English legislation responsible for creating a number of relevant licensing regimes.The regimes discussed include: The Zoo Licensing Act 1981, the now repealed Welfare of Wild Animals in Travelling Circuses Regulations 2012, and the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) Regulations 2018, introduced under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. Exploring the weakness in the use of this type of regulatory model, Tyson proposes compelling recommendations for change in future policy development. Making an important contribution to the question of enforcement of animal welfare laws, this book provides useful and original insights into the implementation of licensing regimes, and will be of particular interest to scholars of animal welfare law, animal ethics, and critical animal studies.

This collection brings methods and questions from humanities, law and social sciences disciplines to examine different instances of lawmaking. Contributors explore the problematic of past law in present historical analysis across indigenous Australia and New Zealand, from post-Franco Spain to current international law and maritime regulation, from settler colonial humanitarian debates to efforts to end cruelty to children and animals. They highlight problems both national and international in their implication. From different disciplines and theoretical positions, they illustrate the diverse and complex study of law’s history.