Module Directory

This module, taught over one term, will introduce students to the legal issues raised by the human treatment and use of animals.
Upon completion of this module, students should be able to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the over-arching regimes that pertain to each category of animals; they will gain an insight into the detailed requirements of legislation and case law and, in so doing, they will necessarily consider the philosophical underpinnings of these laws. In short, and to paraphrase Orwell, this module will require the students to recognise that all animals may be equal but the treatment afforded to them by the law radically differs from species to species.

The aims of this module are:

• To make students aware of the extent to which animals have been objectified and sidelined by existing legal systems


• To familiarise students with theories that propose granting rights to animals


• To introduce students to the laws and principle governing the protection of animals and their welfare


• To foster an understanding of the protective function of law, as well as its historical and theoretical underpinnings in relation to animals


• To be able to apply the law to hypothetical and real scenarios.

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. To understand the context for the roles that animals have, and the historical evolution of rules governing the protection of animals


2. To understand the theoretical reasons of why animals are protected or sidelined


3. To assess the efficacy of the current rules for protecting animals


4. To critically assess animal protection laws and apply these rules to novel scenarios.


5. To apply skills and knowledge to analyse the role of law to protect animals

Specifically the module will consider the following aspects:

• The competing philosophical perspectives on the treatment of animals


• The categorisational approach to animal welfare law


• A recognition of how the laws that pertain to the categories of animals reflects both this perspective and categorisational approach, including discussion of some of the following topics:
  
  
  
  • Animals as a food source,
  
  
  • Animals used in scientific experiments,
  
  
  • Worked, captive and companion animals,
  
  
  • Domestic wildlife,
  
  
  • Endangered, threatened and exotic species,
  
  
  • Marine species.
  
  
  
  


• Key concepts of animal welfare law discourse, such as unnecessary suffering, the Five Freedoms and the Three Rs.

This module will be delivered via:

• 2 hours per week of lectures.
• Tutorials every two weeks.

The assessment for the module is via a piece of coursework of 1750 words in length which will count as 100% of the module grade.