Exerpts from What Is Animal Law? By Maureen Moran. Posted with permission.
Laws about animals have been around for a very long time, but until relatively recently, the law – and lawyers, for the most part -- viewed animals not as sentient beings with rights and interests of their own but solely in relation to humans. Thus, most statutes and cases involving animals focused on issues of ownership: who had property rights in a herd of cattle? Who was the owner of a biting dog? Who had responsibility for damage done by a wandering pig who had gotten through a broken fence? Who had the right to hunt game on certain tracts of land? Who had the right to fish in certain waters? Early efforts to protect animals from cruelty or unnecessary slaughter focused on human stewardship of the animals rather than animals’ right to be free of pain or simply to live.
...Little by little, the efforts of the animal-law attorneys began to change the legal landscape as well as public perceptions about animals. Arguing that animals had rights went from being a radical concept to something plausible, even mainstream. Publicity generated by trials involving animals – from criminal trials involving the maltreatment of lab animals to standoffs with the US Navy over plans to slaughter wild donkeys in the way of a bombing range to a hearing to determine the fate of a dog whose late owner had feared what would happen to her after death and directed in her will that the dog be put down when the owner died – helped bring the public’s awareness and attention to the rights of animals. Even where animal rights lose in court, such as in the recent Supreme Court decision holding that statutes criminalizing animal “crush” videos were unconstitutional, public reaction often energizes the efforts of animal lawyers.
The breadth of animal law is astonishing. Animal lawyers handle cases involving dogs who have been declared dangerous and ordered destroyed; advise companies on adopting more humane practices for the farms that supply their food animals; push for appropriate habitats for zoo animals; sue to enforce anti-cruelty laws against circuses; do estate planning for pet owners who want to provide for their companions’ care after their death; work for tighter regulation of the treatment of lab animals; work with animal advocates to craft proposed legislation, seek to prevent the slaughter of wildlife in the way of human development, and on and on. About half of the bar associations in the United States have a section, committee or other group dedicated to animal law.
As the practice of animal law has expanded and matured, so has the scholarship. Law schools across the country now offer courses, seminars, special programs and conferences on animal law. Student-edited and professional journals publish articles from scholars, students and practitioners. There are a growing number of casebooks and monographs on animal law, which include not only U.S. animal law, but European Union law as well. This area of the law will continue to grow and develop as new practitioners enter the field and courts and scholars develop the literature.
