The Ubiquitous Acceptance of an Exterminatory Legality: Rights, Framing, and Legal Opposition to Animal Farming

Animal farming is a seemingly intractable problem, but it can and should be resisted and opposed. Animal advocates can provide significantly more potent opposition than current reform strategies do. The main reform strategy is the pursuit of legal rights for animals. Yet, animal’s rights are rendered ineffective by background social conditions. The first part of this thesis explores these issues with reference to legal rights animals already possess. Considering the significance of background conditions, the second part deploys insights from social movement framing literature to propose how animal advocates can seek to alter those conditions, producing a social environment more conducive to meaningful protection for animals. This involves countering the scientific and legal narratives (scientific animal welfare and the legality of farming) which obfuscate the wrongfulness of animal farming. The third part justifies why the legality of farming can be denied, with legal theoretical, doctrinal, and public/constitutional law arguments.

Department dc:contributor.department

Law

Year dc:date.issued

2022

Author dc:creator

• Gold, Michael

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Fernandez, Angela AF

• Animal law
• Animal rights
• Constitutional law
• Framing
• Public law
• Social movements

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1807/125493

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:utoronto.scholaris.ca:1807/125493