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Challenging the rightlessness of nonhuman animals

Overview

A legal system that denies rights based solely on species is fundamentally unjust and must evolve.

The Nonhuman Rights Project is leading the movement to secure fundamental rights for nonhuman animals through groundbreaking legal actions rooted in enduring values and principles of justice, like liberty, equality, and fairness.

Our litigation is bold and transformative, confronting an unjust status quo that’s existed for centuries. This status quo is supported by powerful economic, political, and cultural forces that have long normalized the exploitation of animals and benefit from their lesser legal status.

At the same time, what we’re asking courts to do is straightforward and moderate–to simply apply existing legal principles without bias against animals. Courts are obligated to uphold liberty, equality, and fairness in their decisions. If existing law protects individuals from unjust exploitation and nonhuman animals suffer from unjust exploitation, then how can courts disregard the exploitation of nonhuman animals? 

As with any struggle for social justice, change requires time, tenacity, and long-term commitment. It also requires flexibility in the face of shifting or unexpected circumstances. That’s why, as we work to elevate animals’ legal status, normalize the idea that animals have rights, and unwind centuries of injustice endured by other species, we continually evaluate and adapt our legal strategies. 

Learn more below about our approach to our litigation, and visit this page to learn more about our clients. 

Our Approach

“Isn’t it incumbent on the judiciary to at least consider whether a class of beings might be granted a right or something short of the right under the habeas corpus law?”
Justice Barbara Jaffe

Our first court cases: The right to liberty protected by the common law of habeas corpus 

In 2013, the NhRP filed our first lawsuits on behalf of four chimpanzees held captive in New York State. The first of their kind in the world, these lawsuits demanded recognition of our clients’ right to liberty protected by the common law of habeas corpus.

The common law has been and remains fundamental to the NhRP’s litigation. For thousands of years, judges have used the common law to decide cases that turn on general legal principles, such as liberty and equality, as opposed to those that require interpretation of statutes, constitutions, or treaties. Historically, the common law has been uniquely responsive to evolving standards of morality, scientific discovery, and human experience, especially in matters where the legislature hasn’t definitively spoken. 

Habeas corpus is a centuries-old means of testing the lawfulness of one’s imprisonment before a court. It was used extensively in the 18th and 19th centuries to fight human slavery, and abolitionists often petitioned for common law writs of habeas corpus on behalf of enslaved individuals. 

The first stage of our litigation has focused on bringing common law habeas corpus cases in various US states to challenge the wrongful confinement of individual wild animals, specifically great apes, elephants, dolphins, and whales. Scientific evidence of animals’ cognitive, emotional, and social complexity is vital to these lawsuits. Our clients in these cases are members of species for whom there is currently robust scientific evidence of autonomy—a quality that the common law unambiguously values.

Expanding our work under the common law

While the right to liberty protected by habeas corpus remains central to our work and the progress we’ve made, ten years into our litigation we began supporting and exploring new opportunities for pursuing legal change for animals under the common law.

Specifically, we began monitoring for and identifying cases to which we could bring to bear our unique legal expertise on the evolving legal status of nonhuman animals, the role and duty of common law courts, and the fundamental demands of justice driven by evolving societal norms–regardless of whether the cases explicitly involve legal rights for members of other species.

So far, this work has taken the form of amicus briefs filed by the NhRP in two cases: one involving a companion animal struck and killed by a car who was recognized as a family member for the purpose of an emotional distress claim, and another ongoing case involving rescued farmed animals. Through amicus briefs, we’ll continue to demonstrate to the courts that societal norms regarding the treatment of nonhuman animals have changed–and the legal framework for nonhuman animals must change with them. 

New opportunities for legal change: Access to justice 

Every case we file provides us with new insight into how the legal system responds to the critical questions we’re asking about what animals are entitled to under the law. A recurring theme is denial that animals can even have their case heard. At the same time, losses in other domains of animal advocacy at large point to systemic barriers to justice for nonhuman animals. 

We believe many of these barriers are making it difficult if not impossible for judges to even fairly consider cases involving animals. We’re currently investigating how best to tackle these systemic barriers, which are often procedural in nature: for example, how to mobilize court procedures to elevate animals’ legal status (recognizing these animals might still fall short of being considered rights-holders in the near or even the far term) and how to ensure laws meant to protect animals are actually enforced by government agencies. This research has the potential to boost our groundbreaking habeas corpus work with positive spillover effects throughout the cause of animal advocacy by helping to ensure that legal protections are actually enforced and effective.

For law firms, law schools, law students, and bar associations

Interested in animal rights law and want to learn more? Looking for content for your class, club, clinic, or committee? You can help raise awareness of our work by partnering with us for a remote or in-person educational event. We’d be happy to organize a presentation for your group and welcome suggestions about other ways we might collaborate. For more information, email learnmore@nonhumanrights.org.



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