Creatures, the Academic Lawyer and a Socio-Legal Approach: Introducing Animal Law into the Legal Education Curriculum

Abstract

Legal education has witnessed a significant rise in the number of Animal Law courses since 1989, especially in the United States where 164 universities have offered the subject. This article discusses the worldwide growth in provision in the context of a failure to match this impetus in the United Kingdom. It addresses how the continuing rise in the profile of legal issues relating to animals such as the failure to control the disappearance of species, links between poaching and international terrorism and the welfare of 56 billion animals slaughtered for meat worldwide have been largely ignored by the UK legal academy. Possible reasons for this are postulated including a professional realignment of UK legal education. An approach to Animal Law grounded in the methodology of socio-legal studies is discussed. It is suggested that Animal Law provides an opportunity for the UK legal academy to contribute its particular skills to the development of this new area of legal education and research. It would help move UK legal education towards a greater recognition and provision regarding the interaction of sustainable human activities, animals and the law. Keywords Animal Law Á Socio-legal studies Á Sustainability Á Legal education Á Animal law courses in the UK Position Paper: The Editors invite comments upon the issues raised by the author, a sample of which may be published in a future edition of this journal.

RETRACTED: On the knowledge education of law practice teaching in law education

“…In today's legal education and teaching process, practical teaching can be said to be an extremely important teaching mode. [8][9][10] Through the comprehensive training of combining theory with practice, more and more colleges and universities pay more and more attention to practice teaching, and more and more realize the importance of practice teaching. Combining theoretical knowledge with practical teaching is tantamount to a variety of interactions between knowledge and students and educators, static interactions and dynamic interactions.…”

Reflecting on 25 Years of Teaching Animal Law: Is it Time for an International Crime of Animal Ecocide?

“…The Animal Law course was originally designed around core themes of concern for animal welfare. The socio-legal basis of the course, and its part in the worldwide growth of Animal Law is explored elsewhere (Brooman 2017). However, it is useful to summarise some of the areas of humans' interaction with animals that are explored in the course, as these have remained largely unchanged:…”

“…The Animal Law course was originally designed around core themes of concern for animal welfare. The socio-legal basis of the course, and its part in the worldwide growth of Animal Law is explored elsewhere (Brooman 2017 ). However, it is useful to summarise some of the areas of humans’ interaction with animals that are explored in the course, as these have remained largely unchanged: The philosophical and ethical implications of human interaction with animals Animal experimentation Wildlife law and hunting in the UK – with a focus on badgers and foxes The international protection of animals Biotechnology, animals and the law The EU and Animal Welfare Animals in Fur Farming Animals in Agriculture Legal Personhood for animals …”

Legal Education in Colleges and Universities

“…With the rapid development of reform in our country, the market economy has become more and more active, and the application of rules in social life has become more and more common. Students are the hope of the country and the pillar of national rejuvenation, so the rule of law is very important [1,2]. Student crime incidents not only affect a part of society, but also highlight many weak links in the legal system of colleges and universities: for example, insufficient investment in courses, the need to further strengthen the teaching staff and other issues [3].…”