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Constitutional Status of Animals in Chile’s Draft Constitutions of 2022 and 2023: Two Contrasting Approaches
Constitutional Status of Animals in Chile’s Draft Constitutions of 2022 and 2023: Two Contrasting Approaches

Carolina CERDA GUZMAN & Ximena INSUNZA

Chile’s 2022 and 2023 constitution-making processes attracted considerable attention across the world. Even though the two draft Constitutions were rejected by referendum, we think that in terms of environmental issues, they offer instructive examples of two contrasting approaches to these issues…

Constitutional protection of property and dereification of animals – the case of Poland
Constitutional protection of property and dereification of animals – the case of Poland

Cezary BLASZCZYK

The concept of dereification in animal law is widely acknowledged as a pivotal shift in determining the legal status of non-human animals. It moves away from perceiving animals merely as insentient property and recognizes their capacity for suffering…

Constitutional Animal Law: Trends and Impacts
Constitutional Animal Law: Trends and Impacts

Olivier LE BOT

Constitutional animal law is a relatively new discipline that has emerged in legal scholarship in recent years. It focuses specifically on constitutional norms relating to the protection of animals…

Animal Rights and the Property Problem: A Response to Davy
Animal Rights and the Property Problem: A Response to Davy

Josh C. GELLERS

I applaud Ben Davy for approaching the animal rights issue from an unusual angle. Most theories of animal rights are under-inclusive and logically incoherent—they apply to domesticated pets but not wild animals, mammals but not insects…

Animal Personhood, Property, And Compensation
Animal Personhood, Property, And Compensation

Ben DAVY

In the constitutional law of many Western countries (e.g., the member states of the Council of Europe, the member states of the European Union, and the United States of America), non-human animals share the same fate as refrigerators…

Belgium: the country of chocolate, beer and an animal welfare state objective
Belgium: the country of chocolate, beer and an animal welfare state objective

Elien VERNIERS

Not long after the defeat of Napoleon, Belgium declared its independence on 4 October 1830. One year later, in 1831, the Belgian Constitution was adopted. Now, almost two centuries later, the Belgian Constitution is on the verge of a new historic event…

Bridging Science, Ethics, and Law: Animal Personhood in India
Bridging Science, Ethics, and Law: Animal Personhood in India

Harsh VARDHAN BHATI & Kavia AHUJA

The burgeoning movement advocating legal personhood for animals is gaining momentum, aiming to elevate animals from mere property to beings with protective rights. Legal personhood, a concept that has evolved over time, has been granted to various entities…

Animals in Constitutional Law – Symposium Introduction
Animals in Constitutional Law – Symposium Introduction

Eva BERNET KEMPERS & Yaffa EPSTEIN

Of all fields of law, constitutional law may be the field that is traditionally most focused on the human individual as the one and only centre of concern. It is therefore particularly surprising that, over the last decades…