Summer School on Animal Law, Rights and Representation
Law
Law
Gain insight in animal law as a legal discipline, learn about animal rights and find ways to represent animals in court.
Sheep are among the most familiar animals in Europe, yet their legal status often depends on the category in which they are placed. When grazing in a field, they might be treated as part of agricultural property. When used for wool or meat production, they are classified as commodities subject to trade and animal welfare regulations. However, as potential carriers of diseases like scrapie or foot-and-mouth disease, sheep are governed by biosecurity rules that prioritize public health over animal well-being.
These shifting categories raise profound questions: How can the same being simultaneously represent economic utility, legal risk, and a living, sentient creature? And what does it mean for the law to treat sheep not as individuals, but as food products that can be bought and sold?
This leads us to the more general question: do animals have legal rights? And if so, who can represent them in court?
We will discuss these and other questions during the Summer School in Animal Law, Rights and Representation at the University of Antwerp. You will get a comprehensive overview of animal law as a legal discipline, familiarize yourself with the different theories of animal rights law, and think about ways to represent animals in court. You will also get the chance to defend animals yourself in a moot court setting, before a professional jury (in collaboration with the World Moot on International Law and Animal Rights).
The Summer School Animal Law, Rights and Representation offers an intensive programme of 5 days of lectures on different aspects of animal (rights) law. Students will dive into the emerging field of animal rights law from a transnational perspective. They will be familiarized with the basics of animal rights law, get to know about issues concerning the representation of animals in court, and study the transnational aspects of the law addressing animals. Moreover, they will get the chance to interact with practitioners and animal law scholars that will give guest lectures during the course, amongst which Sean and Raffael of the Cambridge Centre of Animal Rights Law.
The aim is to give a comprehensive overview of the relevant theories and laws addressing animals, including supranational, international, and national perspectives. Participants successfully completing the course will have a strong basis in animal rights law for their further careers.
Successful completion of the summer school can be awarded with 3 credits according the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). A certificate will be awarded at the end of the programme.