GW Law Professor Joan Schaffner recently had a unique opportunity to showcase zir expertise as the editor of the new Elgar Concise Encyclopedia of Animal Law, published in July.
Professor Schaffner, who is also the Faculty Co-Director of the Animal Legal Education Initiative, spent three years creating the encyclopedia after Edward Elgar Publishing approached zir about the opportunity in 2022.
As editor, Professor Schaffner oversaw the entire production of the encyclopedia, developing the list of topics and entries, reaching out to authors, writing the introduction and three of the entries, and editing the entries. In total, the encyclopedia has 119 entries from 140 authors, presenting a comprehensive review of the laws that regulate human interactions with, and use of, animals.
“It’s written for lawyers, advocates, politicians, and policymakers—anyone who wants a broad introduction to any animal law issue of interest,” Schaffner said.
Professor Schaffner had help from other GW Law faculty members. Assistant Dean for Animal Law Kathy Hessler and Professor Iselin Gambert, Faculty Co-Director of the Animal Legal Education Initiative and Director of the Fundamentals of Lawyering Program, each wrote an entry for the encyclopedia.
Dean Hessler’s entry focuses on the laws and regulations surrounding aquatic animals, such as fish and sea life, who are often left out of conversations about animal law. Professor Gambert’s entry focuses on the laws and regulations surrounding cultivated meat.
Professor Schaffner, Dean Hessler, Professor Gambert, and Assistant Dean of Environmental Law Studies Randall Abate plan to use select entries from the encyclopedia as a resource for students in an undergraduate course they will be teaching through the Global Food Institute this fall, entitled “Envisioning a Compassionate Food System for Humans, Animals, and the Environment.”
Having GW Law professors’ expertise featured in an encyclopedia like this one demonstrates the strength of the animal law program, Schaffner said.
“Our Animal Legal Education Initiative, which is now moving into its fourth year, is going strong,” Schaffner said. “Our work over the past three years, has grown GW’s reputation in the area of animal law. We have expanded our animal law curriculum, including a clinical offering, put on webinars and conferences on animal law scholarship and pedagogy, and have partnered with other programs to increase the visibility and reputation of animal law as a discipline within the academy and beyond.”
An international perspective
One of the key features of the encyclopedia is its global focus, Schaffner said. The authors of the encyclopedia’s entries are from 18 countries.
Dean Hessler highlighted that “Professor Schaffners’ international reputation and broad expertise made it possible to bring together and work with scholars, professors, and advocates across the globe to create a resource that will be widely useful for animal advocates and will further the development of animal law jurisprudence. An enormous amount of effort went into creating an incredibly valuable tool.”
Schaffner noted that many of the same issues regarding our treatment of animals are present across the globe. For example, most all jurisdictions’ laws treat animals as property, meaning that the animals are viewed as “things” for human use and are not viewed as subjects with their own inherent interests to be protected independent of their use to humans, ze said. Moreover, the laws are organized around the use of the animal, thus there is no minimal protection for any given species of animal.
For example, there is no law that protects all dogs; dogs who live with us as companions enjoy certain legal protections which are different from the laws governing dogs used in research or dogs used for food. This legal paradigm rooted in human use of animals is a fundamental flaw of legal systems worldwide. Of note, certain indigenous communities view animals differently and this is captured in the encyclopedia which includes an entry on Indigenous Animal Law.
Because science and ethics are critical to informing the law, entries on animal sentience and cognition, the science of animal welfare, Artificial Intelligence, animal ethics, environmental ethics, and religious ethics are included. And because our relationship with animals has evolved and changed dramatically over the centuries, entries trace the history of animal law from the ancient period to the current day. Moreover, the legal doctrinal entries are varied.
Some entries provide a bird’s eye view of the animal law framework of some 16 countries including Australia, Brazil, China, India, Nigeria, the UK, and the US, while other entries focus more in-depth on a specific substantive topic such as anti-cruelty laws, wildlife crime, or estate planning, and still others focus on the laws governing specific human uses, such as working equids, fur farming, aquacultural law, or animals in research and testing. This encyclopedia is designed to be accessible to anyone interested in getting a basic understanding of animal law and exploring how the law can evolve to better protect all beings on this planet.
“The opportunity to create the encyclopedia and work with experts from across the globe was a rewarding experience, and I hope it contributes significantly to the field,” Schaffner said.
The Elgar Concise Encyclopedia of Animal Law is available for order Hard Copy and e-Book. Use the code ANML35 at checkout to obtain a 35% discount.