Instructor(s): Angela Fernandez

Note:  This course satisfies the Perspective course requirement. 

Nonhuman animals are traditionally categorized in the law as property. Yet they are living and sentient and hence are importantly different from other forms of property, a fact that is acknowledged in the views many, if not most, people have about domestic companion animals. Wild animals are owned, when they are owned, in a different way. Agricultural animals, because they are produced for food, are treated differently again. There are research animals, from primates to mice and fish. And there are animals that are used for entertainment in zoos and circuses. All of these groups of nonhuman animals have few very legal protections and are thereby made extremely vulnerable to use and abuse.  

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.

Evaluation
Will be 20% participation (based on attendance (10%) and input on class discussion on a regular basis (10%)) and 80%, 2 hour, open book, in-person examination based on the course readings and other materials, lectures, and class discussions. A limited number of students may with the approval of the instructor, elect to write a (SURYP) paper of 10,000 words, which would replace the examination, leaving a 20% participation grade; students will receive an additional credit for the SUYRP. Graduate students may exercise the option of writing a 30-40-page paper (7,500-10,000 words) on a topic related to the course and approved by the professor. 
Academic year
2024 - 2025

At a Glance

First Term
Credits
3
Hours
3
SUYRP
Perspective course

Enrolment

Maximum
50

47 JD
3 LLM/SJD/MSL/SJD U

Schedule

M: 11:00 am - 12:20 pm
W: 11:00 am - 12:20 pm