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Description
Children and animals are treated much the same under the law. Both are seen as having limited, if any, legal rights. For children there are legal processes that can be used to determine if a minor is mature enough to be considered a legal person for life affecting decision making considerations and emancipation proceedings. Animals, no matter what their intelligence levels, are not allowed an opportunity to be found as legal persons and are denied the rights, privileges, and responsibilities that legal personhood bestows. This article looks at the similarities between the historical treatment of children and animals and argues that animals should have the opportunity to be judged to be sentient beings who have legal personhood rights using tests similar in nature to those that allow children to become emancipated from their parents or be deemed mature minors for the purposes of making medical decisions.
10 J. Animal & Envtl. L.17 (2018).
Publication Date
12-2018
Publisher
Journal of Animal and Environmental Law
Keywords
animal rights, child rights, ethics
Disciplines
Animal Law | Juvenile Law | Law | Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility
Recommended Citation
McLaughlin, Paul, "If Animals are Like Our Children Let Us Treat Them Alike: Creating Tests of an Animal’s Intelligence for Determinations of Legal Personhood" (2018). Law Library Faculty Scholarship. 31.
https://ir.law.utk.edu/fac_scholar/31
Included in
Animal Law Commons, Juvenile Law Commons, Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Commons