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The pig that was not convicted of homicide, or: The first animal trial that was none
Full text linkThe case of a pig burned near Paris in 1266/1268 is widely believed to be the first instance of an animal trial in Medieval France. The paper investigates whether this assesment can stand against the background of a close examination of the primary sources. It comes to the conclusion that the sources do not support the traditional view of the incident and that further canonical examples of animal trials should be put under scrutiny
Examining Taiwan Animal Welfare Legislation from the Empirical Perspective of Law Enforcement
Full text linkThe article offers an overall examination of the animal welfare legislation and its enforcement mechanism in Taiwan based on both qualitative and quantitative investigations conducted in 2016 and 2017 respectively. With the mixed research methods and critical empirical points of view, the study focuses on exploring deficiencies and challenges of the law and law enforcement in practical terms and aims to further provide not only suitable but also workable recommendations for future legal reforms to improve animal welfare and the related legal regime in Taiwan
Flower, Harriet I.: The Dancing Lares & the Serpent in the Garden. Religion at the Roman Street Corner, Princeton 2017
Full text linkProtecting Companion Animals from Domestic Abuse
Full text linkThe purpose of this paper was to compare legislation in the United States and the United Kingdom concerning the welfare of companion animals[1] in domestic violence contexts. The U.S. recently implemented measures designed to protect companion animals specifically in violent homes, whereas the U.K. has not as yet done so. We provide specific legal strategies for both the U.S. and the U.K. that, if implemented, would better provide for the protection and care of companion animals in violent homes.
[1] In the context of the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary “an animal that you have at home for pleasure, rather than one that is kept for work or food; a pet.
Animals & Section 7: How Early Charter Jurisprudence Supports Protections for Animals
No full textIn Canadian law, animals hold an interesting legal status. On a metaphorical spectrum from property to personhood, some consider animals to be (1) pure property, (2) somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, or (3) a little bit of both property and person. The leap to full personhood is regarded as highly aspirational and not realistically viable at the present time. Despite this, advocates continue to develop novel legal arguments which shift animals closer to achieving full legal personhood, and the benefits which stem therefrom.
This paper adds a novel – and admittedly highly aspirational – approach to animal personhood: entitlement to protections under s. 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Early Supreme Court jurisprudence defining ‘everyone’ within section 7 is explored. Although the conclusion of the Court states that only humans are deserving of s. 7 protections, the ratio behind that conclusion suggests that nonhuman animals may also be deserving of the right to life, liberty, and security of the person.
 
Legal Patiency – Developing a New Category for Sentient Nonpersons
Full text linkAll animals with non-borderline sentience are deserving of certain legal considerations independent of their use and relationship to human beings. That is, all sentient beings should have some rights. Given the current organization of the U.S. legal system, which divides entities into property or persons, it is not surprising that animals are relegated to property status. This issue can be remedied by creating a third legal designation, legal patient, into which all non-person sentient animals (those which do not properly belong on either current category) would fit. These animals would receive certain limited rights, which would be implemented through legal structures already in place, such as those used in providing legal advocacy for children.
Key words: Animal rights, animal welfare, animal law, personhood, propert
CITES and Animal Welfare: The Legal Void for Individual Animal Protection
Full text linkThe protection of individual animal welfare is a matter of global concern meriting regulation under international law. Current international instruments intending to regulate animals offer piecemeal, incidental and ad-hoc protection for individual animal welfare. As such, international laws dealing with animals do not recognize or acknowledge animal sentience or the intrinsic value of individual animals and therefore are structurally incapable of providing meaningful protection for individual animals, especially abundant animals.
While examining several international instruments with animal welfare dimensions, this article draws particular attention to the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora ('CITES'), which has been described as possessing several provisions replete with animal welfare elements. Despite this, CITES is insufficient as a mechanism to advance animal welfare generally since its application in this regard is limited to the scope of international trading activities. To fill the legal void left by CITES and other international environmental law instruments regarding animal welfare, this article supports the adoption of the proposed International Convention for the Protection of Animals (‘ICPA’). A principal reason for this is to enable animal welfare issues to acquire international recognition by establishing clear guidelines and policies regarding the treatment of individual animals. I suggest ICPA would create an acceptable standard of animal treatment that is immediately accessible to all states, organizations and individuals and would ideally result in harmonized animal cruelty standards around the world.