Animal Law 101
[Guest post by DRJ]
Some American law schools are offering courses on animal law.
From the Houston Chronicle:
“With the high-profile dogfighting case involving NFL player Michael Vick, the dog-adoption scandal with Ellen DeGeneres and hotelier Leona Helmsley leaving a $12 million trust fund to her Maltese, more dogs, it seems, are having their day in court.
The South Texas College of Law this week joins a growing number of law schools helping prepare students for such cases by offering a course on animal law as a permanent class. The three-credit course is an elective.
***
As societal views about pets have changed — from just being an animal to being a companion — the interest in animal law has emerged into a bona fide field. Officials point to the growing number of civil and criminal cases involving animals. A handful of states allow pets to be included in domestic restraining orders while others allow trusts to be set up for beloved companion animals.South Texas, which joins universities such as Northwestern, Duke, Emory, DePaul, Georgetown and Harvard in teaching animal law, offers related academic internships at the Harris County District Attorney’s Office and with the city’s Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care.”
This sounds like a good idea. Almost every lawyer runs into an animal-related case at some point, such as a person who wants to provide for a beloved pet, a neighbor whose animal is a nuisance, or a criminal neglect case.
Hopefully these law schools aren’t biting off more than they can chew or even barking up the wrong tree. (Sorry – couldn’t resist.)
— DRJ
Hey, why not. Everybody has their share of bow wow clients.
You’re up late, DRJ.
Itsme (e8e7f7) — 10/20/2007 @ 1:28 am*groans*
Try try harder… 😛
Scott Jacobs (a1de9d) — 10/20/2007 @ 1:49 amWith tuition being what it is these days, I hope the students are not buying a pig in a poke.
nk (da3e6b) — 10/20/2007 @ 4:09 amThey probably ought to offer this at the University of Kentucky College of Law, where a lot of clients aren’t just horsing around.
Dana (3e4784) — 10/20/2007 @ 4:42 amThats all they need at these law schools something as rediclous and stupid as animal law what else will they try how about allowing cats to sue dogs for chasing them up trees all the time. And i,ll bet those PETA jerks are behind this poppycock
krazy kagu (171210) — 10/20/2007 @ 6:14 amI’d imagine the ag schools would have programs in it, for the livestock business.
whitd (10527e) — 10/20/2007 @ 7:19 amI would agree that it’s a good thing, except for the veiled references to how dogs have “evolved” in our society.
I read that will be this is the new area of activist law–protecting the “rights” of animals.
Meanwhile, we are sleepless in LA because of our neighbors and their barking dogs who, after all, are only exercising their first amendment
Patricia (4117a9) — 10/20/2007 @ 8:24 am“rights” as Canine Americans.
There’s actually a lot more to animal law than what’s been mentioned so far. There’s a lot of regulation of animal-racing industries, litigation over animal-related provisions in insurance policies, contract litigation involving breeders and purchasers of animals, “hobby loss” cases involving whether certain uses of animals (and a lot of different things come up) are tax-deductible, what forms of tort liability exist in animal-injury or -death cases, restrictions on pet ownership in leases and condo covenants, issues involving wills, and a whole lot more.
Alan (f1706f) — 10/20/2007 @ 4:12 pmTrue, Alan. Thanks for mentioning that.
DRJ (67ced6) — 10/20/2007 @ 4:18 pmWhat Patricia #7 said …. Here’s a story to raise everybody’s hackles.
nk (da3e6b) — 10/20/2007 @ 4:28 pmNK–obviously this is one of your pet peeves?
(apologies, but like Shakespeare, I can never resist a bad pun. Too bad that’s my only similarity to Shakespeare.)
kishnevi (5ebf93) — 10/20/2007 @ 6:38 pmIt just dogs my conscience, Kishnevi. That judge needs a good horsewhipping.
nk (da3e6b) — 10/20/2007 @ 6:56 pmRead a funny article in BIRDERS DIGEST a few years ago called WHEN BIRDS SUE like about mr red tailed hawk suing my hummingbird for disturbing his hunting route or mr shrike being sued for having bad food in his larder
krazy kagu (a6e311) — 10/22/2007 @ 6:55 am