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Just seen this piece in the Guardian about elephants and legal personality
https://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2020/oct/19/is-an-elephant-a-person-a-new-york-court-is-set-to-decide
The implication is that it is a strange idea
But far stranger things (routinely) have legal personality
1.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2020/oct/19/is-an-elephant-a-person-a-new-york-court-is-set-to-decide
The implication is that it is a strange idea
But far stranger things (routinely) have legal personality
1.
For example, corporations (think of the words corpse and corporal) are bodies created/recognised by law to have legal personality
And the thing is...
...that they really don't exist
Not in any tangible form
2.
And the thing is...
...that they really don't exist
Not in any tangible form
2.
But we shrug at the notion of a legal fiction like a limited company or a statutory corporation being a legal person, as if it a normal thing
But a living creature?
That is laughable, it seems
Imo, it is not a daft idea at all
3.
But a living creature?
That is laughable, it seems
Imo, it is not a daft idea at all
3.
That an animal cannot exercise its own legal rights is no barrier to it having legal personality
Children and those with insufficient capacity are still persons at law, even though others have at on their behalf
4.
Children and those with insufficient capacity are still persons at law, even though others have at on their behalf
4.
For a good part of English legal history we even had the weird notion that intangible legal fictions like corporations had personalities at law, and enslaved human beings did not
5.
5.
Am not advocating conferring legal personality on other species to our own, but it is not a strange idea either
Worth considering, especially in the context of animal welfare
6.
Worth considering, especially in the context of animal welfare
6.
As in the words of that eminent jurist Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction:
'personality goes a long way'
7 & ends
'personality goes a long way'
7 & ends
ps
Indeed - a natural feature such as a river can also be a person at law, see:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2019/04/maori-river-in-new-zealand-is-a-legal-person https://twitter.com/Twundit/status/1318234008115884033
Indeed - a natural feature such as a river can also be a person at law, see:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2019/04/maori-river-in-new-zealand-is-a-legal-person https://twitter.com/Twundit/status/1318234008115884033
ps2
Having legal personality means there are rights enforceable and recognised by law, even if those rights are enforced on a person's behalf
Directors on behalf of companies
Parents for children
Attorneys for incapacitated
So why not humans for (certain) protected animals?
Having legal personality means there are rights enforceable and recognised by law, even if those rights are enforced on a person's behalf
Directors on behalf of companies
Parents for children
Attorneys for incapacitated
So why not humans for (certain) protected animals?
ps3
This is my 2014 post on whether a primate can own the copyright in a selfie https://www.ft.com/content/5186b13d-d06c-3650-8443-284b6a7cbcde
This is my 2014 post on whether a primate can own the copyright in a selfie https://www.ft.com/content/5186b13d-d06c-3650-8443-284b6a7cbcde
