Animals and the Law (LAW253H1F)

This course will analyze the history of the legal treatment of these different kinds of nonhuman animals, asking throughout about the limits of a sentient or living property concept when its objects are also subjects with some (albeit weak) legal rights. Topics to be explored will include federal anti-cruelty protection and provincial welfare legislation in Canada, the persons v. property debate and emerging alternatives to it, Indigenous perspectives on nonhuman animals and how a history of conflict with the animal rights movement can be recreated in cooperative terms, wild animals (in and not in captivity), fish and other aquatic animals given the special considerations they raise, recent “ag gag” legislation in Canada, and “clean meat” and other game-changers that will make it possible to move away from relying on nonhuman animals for food.

The course was taught Fall 2021 and continues in Fall 2022.

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