Critical Analysis of Law Workshop: Kristen Stilt

Critical Analysis of Law Workshop Series

presents

Kristen Stilt
Harvard Law School

Constitutional Animal Protection

  Tuesday, November 15, 2016
12:30 – 2:00
Solarium (room FA2), Falconer Hall
84 Queen’s Park

Despite the growing attention to the interests of animals worldwide, very few countries include protections for animals in their constitutions.  Unlike basic rights, where a trend towards textual convergence in constitutions around the world is noticeable and well-studied, recognition of animals in the highest law of the land is a new development.  In order to begin to answer the broader questions of how and why animal protection is included in national constitutions, this paper focuses on the post-revolutionary constitutional experience of Egypt and the state’s obligation to provide for the “kind treatment of animals” that was adopted as part of the 2014 constitution.

Kristen A. Stilt is Professor of Law and a Director of the Islamic Legal Studies Programs.  She also directs the new animal law program at the Law School.   Prior to coming to HLS, Stilt was Harry R. Horrow Professor in International Law at Northwestern Law School and Professor of History at Northwestern University.  Stilt’s research focuses on Islamic law and society in both historical and contemporary contexts. She was named a Carnegie Scholar for her work on constitutional Islam, and in 2013 was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship.  She has also received awards from Fulbright and Fulbright-Hays.  Stilt received a JD from The University of Texas School of Law, where she was an associate editor of the Texas Law Review and co-editor-in-chief of the Texas Journal of Women in the Law. Stilt holds a PhD in History and Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University.

For more workshop information, please contact Nadia Gulezko at n.gulezko@utoronto.ca