Dignity, Sentience, Personality: the Legal Relationship between Animals and Humans

Abstract

In a new consideration of animals, whose fundamental critical point is the traditional consideration of them as things, it seems possible to identify three periods, or historic moments, that have marked an evolution in their treatment in the last decades, and precisely in the legal realm. These periods can be identified through the perceptible changes in legislation and jurisprudence. These three terms are: Dignity, Sentience and Personality. The antecedents of this proposal are examined the factors that appear to have provoked these changes are raised for discussion.