Creatures, the Academic Lawyer and a Socio-Legal Approach: Introducing Animal Law into the Legal Education Curriculum

Abstract

Legal education has witnessed a significant rise in the number of Animal Law courses since 1989, especially in the United States where 164 universities have offered the subject. This article discusses the world-wide growth in provision in the context of a failure to match this impetus in the United Kingdom. It addresses how the continuing rise in the profile of legal issues relating to animals such as the failure to control the disappearance of species, links between poaching and international terrorism and the welfare of 56 billion animals slaughtered for meat worldwide have been largely ignored by the UK legal academy. Possible reasons for this are postulated including a professional realignment of UK legal education. An approach to Animal Law grounded in the methodology of socio-legal studies is discussed. It is suggested that Animal Law provides an opportunity for the UK legal academy to contribute its particular skills to the development of this new area of legal education and research. It would help move UK legal education towards a greater recognition and provision regarding the interaction of sustainable human activities, animals and the law.