This week I learned that Joyce Tischler’s, A Brief History of Animal Law, Part II (1985 – 2011), was published in the on-line Stanford Journal of Animal Law and Policy. It follows her A Brief History of Animal Law, Part I (1972-1987), 1 Stanford Journal of Animal Law and Policy 1 (2008). The first part “tracked the beginnings of animal law as a conscious effort by lawyers to bring cases that would protect animals from harm, how these lawyers met and were influenced by the surrounding animal rights movement, how they developed working relationships, and how they shaped their varied approaches to animal rights and protection litigation”. Now she brings her history up-to-date.
It is defective only to the extent she modestly leaves out her critical role. In those early days, we youngsters of Attorneys for Animal Rights, later the Animal Legal Defense Fund, could see the animal holocaust going on all around us, but had little idea how to begin slowing it, then bringing it to a halt. Joyce often kept the entire enterprise from flying apart.
Both sections of her Brief History are must-reads for animal protection/rights lawyers, law students, law professors, anyone interested in understanding where animal law and animal rights law. How did the Animal law Committee of the American Bar Association and state animal law committees form? Why are there more than 140 animal law or animal rights law classes being offered at American law schools? Where did the nearly 170 chapters of the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund come from and how did we end up with not one, but five animal law reviews? How did the private practice of animal law develop? What are some of the landmark animal law decisions and how were they obtained? Who is working on developing sophisticated animal protection litigation and who is working on breakthrough animal rights cases?
Joyce closes with the vision that guided her these last three decades.
Those of us at the heart of the animal law movement envision a world in which the lives and interests of all sentient beings are respected within the legal system, a world in which animals are not exploited, terrorized, tortured, or controlled to serve human whims or purposes. We look to a new generation of animal lawyers to write the next chapter of this story, to share our vision and walk down the road with us toward a far more just and compassionate society.
You, the rising generation of young animal rights lawyers, need to know where we came from so you can understand where we can go and how we can get there. By illuminating the past, Joyce points the way forward. Take our hands and let’s go!