Animal Law Courses

Animal Law Courses

Animal Law (6424)

This 2-credit class is a survey of the treatment of animals in state, federal, and international law.

Crimes Against Animals (6375)

Exploration of laws that criminalize abuse or neglect of animals and the parameters of prosecution in those settings. Opportunity to practice skills, voir dire, witness examination and closing argument. The effect of legal, ethical, policy, and practical considerations. Development of ethical advocacy approaches and skills. Enrollment is limited. (Simulation) (E)

Public Law Seminar: Animal Rights and the Law (6426)

This 2-credit seminar explores the theoretical, legal, and practical implications of granting animals “rights.”

Reading Group (Hot Topics in Animal Law) (6351)

This course is designed to give students exposure to the evolving field of animal law and highlight areas that are both critical and developing. Students will have the opportunity to engage critically with a broad range of animal law issues and jurisprudential arenas and to focus on ones that are of interest when writing their short papers. Topics will adjust based on student interest and matters that are currently before courts, legislators, and regulators and will include: Animals in Research; Animal Law and Science; Aquatic Animals; Captive Animals; Carceral Conversations Relating to Animals; Farmed Animals; First Amendment issues; International, Indigenous, and Foreign Law; and Wild Animals.

Students will critically analyze animal law concepts in comparison to and within frameworks of traditional legal jurisprudence. They will assess how the law evolves in the context of issues relating to animals, within courts, legislatures, regulatory bodies and within societal frameworks, and will consider what supports and effects that development, including, science, economics, social psychology, ethics, practical considerations, and more, and what effects other types of marginalization or vulnerability has on this area of law. Students will analyze, critique, advocate, and present relevant material in two writing assignments. Enrollment is limited. This course is graded on a CR/NC basis. (Writing assignments)

Reading Group: Gender, Race, Species (6351)

In 1989, legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the (now widely used) term “intersectionality,” which, in her words, is “a lens through which you can see where power comes and collides, where it interlocks and intersects. It’s not simply that there’s a race problem here, a gender problem here, and a class or LBGTQ problem there.” Endeavoring to identify places where “power comes and collides, where it interlocks and intersects'' throughout US legal history—especially with regard to manifestations of sexism, racism, and speciesism—this reading group will explore, through intersectional analysis, primary source documents including slave codes, coverture laws, the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, landmark US Supreme Court decisions, and statues including the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. Class discussion will be anchored in readings by Frederick Douglass, Audre Lorde, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Angela Davis, A. Breeze Harper, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Carol Adams, and a diversity of other scholars from a variety of fields including feminist legal theory, critical race theory, LGBTQIA+ theories, disability theory, critical animal studies, and more. Enrollment is limited. The reading group will culminate in a presentation on an aspect of the course content. This course is graded on a CR/NC basis. (Writing assignments)

Animal Law-related Courses

Environmental Law (6430)

Federal environmental law in the US is heavily statutory in nature. This course explores the policy justifications for and common law roots of environmental law. It also covers aspects of constitutional and administrative law of particular importance to US environmental law. The bulk of the course involves an introduction to the major federal environmental statutes, including those involving environmental assessment, endangered species protection, air and water pollution, and hazardous waste management and liability. Coverage of each statute will include assessment of goals and regulatory strategies for achieving them, and also entail close reading of statutory text. The course also covers alternatives to traditional regulatory approaches, emphasizing market-based approaches to environmental protection. (Examination)

Wildlife and Ecosystems Law (6431)

This 2-3 credit course presents an in-depth study of the complex body of laws that protect or regulate wildlife, including laws that protect ecosystems and the habitats in which wild animals live.

Natural Resources Law (6440)

This 2-3 credit course discusses legal issues related to the multiple resource uses of federal public lands, including forestry, mining, water, recreation, wildlife, endangered species, and wilderness.

International Environmental Law (6454)

This 2-3 credit course focuses on the treaty negotiation process, the role of international institutions in developing and implementing environmental agreement and  the relationship between environmental and international law in the context of a variety of issues including climate change, export of hazardous waste, and deforestation and biodiversity.

Independent Legal Writing (6656)

Students may explore animal law-related topics through supervised research and writing for 1-2 credits.