The Elephant in the Courtroom: The Fight to Extend Legal Rights to Nonhuman Animals

Under the common law, all nonhuman animals have long been regarded as "things" incapable of possessing even a single legal right. In May 2022, the New York Court of Appeals heard arguments in the habeas corpus appeal of Happy, an elephant confined to the Bronx Zoo for over 40 years, marking the first time the high court of any jurisdiction considered the question of whether the common law of habeas corpus extends rights to nonhuman animals. The Court was asked to recognize Happy as a "person" under Article 70 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR), New York's habeas corpus procedural statute, and order her freed to an elephant sanctuary. 

The program, presented by Kevin Schneider, former Executive Director of the Nonhuman Rights Project, will cover the current legal situation for nonhuman animals, the history and present use of the writ of habeas corpus, and the responses of state trial and appellate court judges to the question of whether a nonhuman animal may possess the right to bodily liberty protected by common law habeas corpus. The program will also briefly review judicial opinions from outside the United States granting rights and legal personhood to nonhuman animals, including under habeas corpus. The program will benefit litigators who focus on common law principles in appeals, law students, judges and court staff, and anyone interested in the expansion of legal rights to nonhuman animals and ecosystems. 

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify a common law legal issue

2. Argue effectively for updating the common law

3. Understand the idea of common law legal personhood

4. Appreciate the social, scientific, moral, and historical factors driving common law change in general and common law personhood in particular

5. Consider how our legal system might evolve to recognize appropriate rights for nonhuman animals and ecosystems