Legal Personhood and Animal Rights

Kurki, Visa Anton Julius

doi:10.5406/janimalethics.11.1.0047

Cited by 19 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…The NhRP files writs of habeas corpus on behalf of certain animals requesting courts to recognize an animal as a legal person with the capacity to hold the right to bodily liberty. Legal scholar Visa Kurki criticizes the NhRP’s litigation strategy due to employing this concept of legal personhood and identifies it as the “orthodox view of legal personhood” [ 44 ] (pp. 47–48).…”

Section: Legal Capacity To Hold Rights and Bear Dutiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Kurki mainly criticizes two aspects of the NhRP’s litigation strategy. First, he claims that the NhRP grounds its strategy on animals lacking legal rights, so winning a case would turn them into legal persons with certain rights, framing the debate as “momentous and historic,” and thus, deterring courts [ 44 ] (p. 48). Second, he argues that animal advocates, specifically the NhRP, should center the debate on animals holding certain rights instead of legal personhood [ 44 ] (p. 48).…”

Section: Legal Capacity To Hold Rights and Bear Dutiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In chimpanzee Tommy’s case, the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Judicial Department dismissed the case, arguing that chimpanzees cannot hold duties [ 48 ]. Hence, the court dismissed this case using the orthodox view of legal personhood [ 44 ] (p. 54). In Happy’s case, among several other arguments, the court also argued that animals must bear duties to hold rights [ 49 ].…”

Section: Legal Capacity To Hold Rights and Bear Dutiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Traditional Conceptions of the Legal Person and Nonhuman Animals

Franceschini

2022

Animals

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Since Roman law, the category of the legal person has been the most relevant legal category, allowing humans and entities to act within the law and enter into legal relations. The legal system does not consider nonhuman animals as legal persons but as property or as sentient beings regulated by the rules of property. Throughout history, there have been different concepts of the legal person, and some are still relevant today. This article examines four traditional concepts of legal personhood, arguing that nonhuman animals can be considered persons according to each concept. The article reaches three main conclusions. First, the legal person is not the same as the human. Second, the debate between the equivalence and the subset views poses a dilemma between a revolution or the reform of animals’ legal status. Third, an ecumenical defense of animal legal personhood may benefit animals as it supports animal persons according to any of the traditional concepts of legal personhood.

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Section: Legal Capacity To Hold Rights and Bear Dutiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Legal Capacity To Hold Rights and Bear Dutiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Legal Capacity To Hold Rights and Bear Dutiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Traditional Conceptions of the Legal Person and Nonhuman Animals

Franceschini

2022

Animals

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“…This trend is echoed outside of Europe, for example, the New Zealand Animal Welfare Amendment Act (No. 2 of 2015) recognizes animal sentience ( 23 ); the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests declared in 2015 that all cetaceans are non-human persons; Colombia's 2016 reform of the National Animal Protection Statute recognizes animals as sentient beings and introduces new penalties for animal's abuse; and Argentina, where the chimpanzee Cecilia was declared a subject of law/rights ( sujeto de derecho ) ( 24 ).…”

Section: Animal Welfare Legislationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Donkey Skin Trade and Its Non-compliance With Legislative Framework

Lima¹,

Tatemoto²,

Reeves³

et al. 2022

Front. Vet. Sci.

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Donkeys (Equus asinus) are facing a global crisis. Their welfare, and even survival, is being compromised as the demand for their skins increases. This demand is driven by the need to supply raw materials to produce ejiao, a Traditional Chinese Medicine made from collagen extracted from donkey skins. Since there is no productive chain for donkey skin production outside of China, the global trade is an entirely extractive industry that has resulted in the decimation of some local donkey populations. The donkey skin trade is demonstrably unsustainable, from the ethical issues associated with poor welfare, to the biosecurity and human health risks the trade poses; and it violates both legal frameworks and moral expectations at both a national and global level.

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“…Utilitarian ethical approaches to produce “the greatest good for the greatest number” or “maximize the amount of happiness” (Shermer, 2018) were traditionally anthropocentric (and culture‐centric), but now nonhuman actors play increasingly larger roles. Environmental ethics (Palmer et al, 2014), rights of nature and nonhuman entities (e.g., rivers, forests; Borràs, 2016; Stilt, 2021; Stone, 2010; see also Kurki, 2021), species rights (e.g., Soulé, 1985, “Species have value in themselves, a value neither conferred nor revocable but springing from a species' long evolutionary heritage and potential”), and “personhood” for nonhuman species (e.g., Staker, 2017) have entered social consciousness. The precept, “Above All, Do No Harm,” Hippocrates' ~480 BCE guidance for the physicians–patient relationship, now extends to human interactions with the living and nonliving environment (e.g., Niner, 2018; Van Dover et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethical opportunities in deep‐sea collection of polymetallic nodules from the Clarion‐Clipperton Zone

Katona

Paulikas

Stone

2021

Integr Envir Assess & Manag

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Infrastructure supporting the transition of human societies from fossil fuels to renewable energy will require hundreds of millions of tons of metals. Polymetallic nodules on the abyssal seabed of the Clarion‐Clipperton Zone (CCZ), eastern North Pacific Ocean, could provide them. We focus on ethical considerations and opportunities available to the novel CCZ nodule‐collection industry, integrating robust science with strong pillars of social and environmental responsibility. Ethical considerations include harm to sea life and recovery time, but also the value of human life, indigenous rights, rights of nature, animal rights, intrinsic values, and intangible ecosystem services. A “planetary perspective” considers the biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere, extends beyond mineral extraction to a life‐cycle view of impacts, and includes local, national, and global impacts and stakeholders. Stakeholders include direct nodule‐collection actors, ocean conservationists, companies, communities, interest groups, nations, and citizens globally, plus counterfactual stakeholders involved with or affected by intensification of terrestrial mining if ocean metals are not used. Nodule collection would harm species and portions of ecosystems, but could have lower life‐cycle impacts than terrestrial mining expansion, especially if nodule‐metal producers explicitly design for it and stakeholders hold them accountable. Participants across the value chain can elevate the role of ethics in strategic objective setting, engineering design optimization, commitments to stakeholders, democratization of governance, and fostering of circular economies. The International Seabed Authority is called to establish equitable and transparent distribution of royalties and gains, and continue engaging scientists, economists, and experts from all spheres in optimizing deep‐sea mineral extraction for humans and nature. Nodule collection presents a unique opportunity for an ambitious reset of ecological norms in a nascent industry. Embracing ethical opportunities can set an example for industrial‐scale activities on land and sea, accelerate environmental gains through environmental competition with land ores, and hasten civilization's progress toward a sustainable future. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:634–654. © 2021 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).

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Legal Personhood and Animal Rights

Cited by 19 publications

References 19 publications

Traditional Conceptions of the Legal Person and Nonhuman Animals

Traditional Conceptions of the Legal Person and Nonhuman Animals

Donkey Skin Trade and Its Non-compliance With Legislative Framework

Ethical opportunities in deep‐sea collection of polymetallic nodules from the Clarion‐Clipperton Zone

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