The purpose of the course is to introduce students to the legal, ethical, regulatory, economic and social issues that are associated with human interaction with animals.

The former President of the Australian Law Reform Commission Professor David Weisbrot suggested that "animal welfare" is likely to become the next great social justice movement in Australia, observing that the treatment of animals is "increasingly becoming a social and legal issue, as well as an important economic one."  Why is this?  There is a growing understanding in society of the importance of respect and protection of animals as an indicator of the ethical maturity of a society. 

The way in which society exploits animals for our entertainment, pleasure and consumption therefore raises profound moral, ethical and legal issues.  Accordingly, "ethical animal welfare, the protection of animals for their own sake as sentient beings with a capacity for suffering, is no doubt one of the basic values of modern western states."  This interaction between human activities and animal interests is a serious area of academic inquiry giving rise to significant legal regulatory and socio-ethical issues.

Adopting an inter-disciplinary approach, this new elective course will consider animals within established categories of law such as property, (for example, s.2 of the Australian Consumer Law and s 4 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) defines "goods" to include animals), but will also examine the legal status and regulation of the treatment of within broader social, philosophical and legal contexts.  This includes an economic and scientific context, an environmental context, and an ethical-political context. 

Students will therefore be challenged in their traditional understanding of animals as they are conceptualised in law (including underlying philosophical assumptions) and to critically evaluate the way the legal system influences the interests of animals within society.

Students will therefore be challenged in their traditional understanding of animals as they are conceptualised in law (including underlying philosophical assumptions) and to critically evaluate the way the legal system influences the interests of animals within society.

In this way, an examination of animals through prevailing and traditional legal doctrines is critiqued and evaluated through the insights of other academic disciplines such as philosophy, economics and science.  This approach will provide students with an opportunity for critical reflection on the legal and ethical interaction between humans and animals as manifested in the law.

Through this course, students will: 

• be able to locate the growing area of animals and the law within the wider legal and regulatory framework
• critically evaluate the legal and philosophical characterisation of animal interests
• examine the principal legal and regulatory schemes involving animals and understand the guiding theory behind those schemes
• evaluate the principal animal welfare and anti-cruelty legislation and the enforcement of that legislation by interest groups
• examine the legal differentiation of animals according to their status as carers, guide dogs, etc
• examine the extent and regulation of scientific research protocols involving animals, especially biotechnological research
• examine the extent and regulation of farming of animals for food and animal by-products
• examine the international dimension of animal regulation through treaties and other agreements
• examine the case for on-going reform in animal interest regulation.

Students will be assessed on class participation and be required to write a substantial research essay on a topic of their choice and approved by the course convenor.

Each week students will attend a two hour lecture and a one hour interactive and participative tutorial based upon the material presented in the lecture.

Completed or completing five LAWS courses at 1000 level.

Students may also find it beneficial to have completed LAWS2201 Administrative Law and LAWS2203 Corporations Law.

Deborah Cao; Animal Law in Australia and New Zealand, 2010, Lawbook Co (Thomson Reuters), Sydney, Australia.

Classes will not be recorded as Animals and the Law is intended to be an interactive and participative course.