On the Respectful Use of Animals

Abstract

In his essay “The Integration of the Ethic of the Respectful Use of Animals into the Law,” David Favre begins to articulate a new framework for understanding the legal status of nonhuman animals. The present essay supports the broad contours of Favre’s framework, but raises challenges for some of the framework’s elements. The first half questions Favre’s claim that possession of DNA and the capacity for life underlie the need for a more robust conception of animal legal standing. The second half questions both Favre’s prior proposal that animals be deemed persons under law and his pragmatic suggestion that judges and scholars refrain from specific speculations about the moral status of animals.