Abstract

A relatively recent form of animal activism is lawsuits intended to declare some animals as legal persons. A pioneer of this approach is the U.S.-based Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP). This organization’s primary strategy has been to invoke the writ of habeas corpus, which protects the right to personal freedom of “persons.” The article criticizes the notion of legal personhood that the NhRP is employing and explains how an alternative understanding of legal personhood could perhaps make nonhuman rights more palatable for courts.

rights, personhood, legal personhood, personal freedom, habeas corpus
The text of this article is only available as a PDF.

References

Andrews, K., Comstock, G., Crozier, G. K. D., Donaldson, S., Fenton, A., … Sebo, J. (2018). Chimpanzee rights: The philosophers’ brief. London, England: Routledge.
Andrews, K., Comstock, G., Crozier, G. K. D., Donaldson, S., Fenton, A., … Walker, R. L. (2018). Proposed brief by Amici Curiae philosophers in support of the petitioner-appellant. https://www.nonhumanrights.org/content/uploads/In-re-Nonhuman-Rights-v.-Lavery-Proposed-Brief-by-PHILOSOPHERS-74435.pdf
Appellationsgericht des Kantons Basel-Stadt als Verfassungsgericht, Urteil VG.2018.1 vom 15. Januar 2019, A., B. und C. gegen Grosser Rat des Kantons Basel-Stadt, Beschwerde gegen einen Beschluss des Grossen Rates vom 10. Januar 2018 betreffend rechtliche Zulässigkeit der kantonalen Volksinitiative “Grundrechte für Primaten.”
Beaudry, J.-S. (2016). From autonomy to habeas corpus: Animal rights activists take the parameters of legal personhood to court. Global Journal of Animal Law (1), 3–35.
Beaudry, J.-S. (2019). Are animals persons? Why ask? Journal of Animal Ethics, 9(1), 6–26.
Bowen, J. (2020). Beyond normative control: Against the will theory of rights. Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 1–17.
Campbell, K. (2017). Legal rights. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2017/entries/legal-rights/
Cetacean Community v. Bush, 386 F. 3d 1169 (9th Cir. 2004).
Favre, D. (2010). Living property: A new status for animals within the legal system. Marquette Law Review, 93(4), 1021–1071.
Gilbert, M. (2018). Rights and demands: A foundational inquiry. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
Hohfeld, W. N. (1913). Some fundamental legal conceptions as applied in legal reasoning. Yale Law Journal, 23(1), 16–59.
Jowitt, J. (2020). Legal rights for animals: Aspiration or logical necessity? Journal of Human Rights and the Environment, 11(2), 173–198.
Kagan, S. (1998). Normative ethics. London, England: Routledge.
Kendrick, H. (2018). “Autonomy, slavery, and companion animals.” Between the Species: An Online Journal for the Study of Philosophy and Animals, 22(1), 236–59.
Kramer, M. H. (1998). Rights without trimmings. In Matthew H. Kramer, N. E. Simmonds, & Hillel Steiner (Eds.), A Debate over Rights. Philosophical Enquiries (pp. 7–112). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
Kramer, M. H. (2008). Rights in legal and political philosophy.” In A. Gregory, R. Caldeira, D. Kelemen, & K. E. Whittington (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Law and Politics (pp. 1–9). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
Kramer, M. H. (2013). Some doubts about alternatives to the interest theory of rights. Ethics, 123(2), 245–63.
Kurki, V. A. J. (2017). Animals, slaves and corporations: Analyzing legal thinghood. German Law Journal, 18(5), 1096–1090.
Kurki, V. A. J. (2018). “Rights, harming and wronging: A restatement of the interest theory.” Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 38(3), 430–50.
Kurki, V. A. J. (2019). A theory of legal personhood. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
List, C., & Pettit, P. (2011). Group agency: The possibility, design, and status of corporate agents. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
MacCormick, N. (1976). Children’s rights: A test-case for theories of right. Archiv für Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie, 52(3), 305–316.
McCausland, C. (2014). “The five freedoms of animal welfare are rights.” Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 27(4).
Naffine, N. (2009). Law’s meaning of life: Philosophy, religion, Darwin and the legal person. Oxford, England: Hart Publishing.
Nonhuman Rights Project. (n.d.). Who we are. https://www.nonhumanrights.org/who-we-are
Nonhuman Rights Project, Inc. on Behalf of Tommy v. Lavery, 31 N.Y. 3d 1054 (2018) (Fahey, J., concurring).
People ex rel. Nonhuman Rights Project, Inc. v. Lavery, No 518336, 2014 WL 680276 (NY App. Div. 4 December 2014).
Rorty, Amélie. (1988). Mind in action: Essays in the philosophy of mind. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Rowlands, M. (2019). Can animals be persons? Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
Shyam, G. (2015). The legal status of animals: The world rethinks its position. Alternative Law Journal, 40(4), 266–70.
Singer, P. (1993). Practical ethics. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Skopek, J. M. (2014). Animals are already legal persons: On Steven Wise, the Nonhuman Rights Project, and misguided personhood debates. Bill of Health. https://blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2014/04/24/animals-are-already-legal-persons-on-steven-wise-the-nonhuman-rights-project-and-misguided-personhood-debates/
Staker, A. (2017). Should chimpanzees have standing? The case for pursuing legal personhood for non-human animals. Transnational Environmental Law, 6(3), 485–507.
Steiner, H. (1998). Working rights. In M. H. Kramer, N. Simmonds, & H. Steiner (Eds.), A debate over rights: Philosophical enquiries. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press.
Stucki, S. (2020). Towards a theory of legal animal rights: Simple and fundamental rights. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 40(3), 533–560.
Stucki, S. (2016a). Grundrechte Für Tiere. Eine Kritik Des Geltenden Tierschutzrechts Und Rechtstheoretische Grundlegund von Tierrechten Im Rahmen Einer Neupositionerung Des Tieres Als Rechtssubjekt. Baden-Baden, Germany: Nomos.
Stucki, S. (2016b). “Toward hominid and other humanoid rights: Are we witnessing a legal revolution?” Verfassungblog.
Tilikum et al. v. Sea World Parks & Entertainment Inc., 842 F. Supp. 2d 1259 (S.D. Cal. 2012).
Wise, S. M. (2010). Legal personhood and the nonhuman rights project. Animal Law, 17(1), 1.
Wise, S. M. (2019). The struggle for the legal rights of nonhuman animals begins—the experience of the nonhuman rights project in New York and Connecticut. Animal Law, 25(3), 367–394.
Copyright 2021 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
2021
This content is made freely available by the publisher. It may not be redistributed or altered. All rights reserved.