| CODE | ERL3006 | ||||||||
| TITLE | Principles of Animal Welfare | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 03 - Years 2, 3, 4 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 6 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Environmental and Resources Law | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | The study-unit offers a comprehensive exploration of the principles of animal welfare law and animal rights, together with the history and evolution of animal-related legal frameworks. Students will gain insights into the ethical, social, and legal dynamics of human-animal interactions, the distinctions between animal rights and welfare, and the legal recognition of animals as sentient beings. The curriculum delves into the differences between laws pertaining to companion animals and those for farm animals, the development of laws addressing animal abuse, cruelty, and neglect, and the role of regulatory bodies in ensuring adherence to these laws. A comparative approach is adopted to study animal protection laws across various jurisdictions, and the course concludes by reflecting on past challenges and envisioning future directions in animal welfare law. Study-unit Aims: 1. To Increase students awareness of vis-脿-vis animal abuse, cruelty, and neglect 鈥� starting from a moral, and most importantly, a legal perspective; 2. To provide and equip students with a foundational understanding of animal law, including its history, evolution, and principles of animal welfare and rights. This should encourage students to critically examine historical, current, and future challenges in animal law, promoting advocacy and legal reform; 3. To enhance students' understanding of legislation pertaining to animal abuse, cruelty, and neglect, with a particular focus on fostering moral and legal obligations. This includes comparative law methods for analyzing global approaches to animal law and ultimately fostering an appreciation for legal diversity; 4. To cultivate critical thinking skills in the process of legal comparative analyses of animal rights and animal welfare, thereby promoting an awareness of their legal and ethical ramifications; 5. To distinguish and enhance students鈥� understanding of the legal complexities vis-脿-vis the distinction between, inter alia, companion animals, farm animals, as well as ferals and strays; 6. To train students to identify and overcome the challenges inherent in enforcing animal protection laws, including the roles of stakeholders and the effectiveness of certain legal mechanisms (especially in comparison with 鈥榩olicy鈥� alone). Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Define the key terms and concepts of animal welfare law, including animal rights and animal welfare; - List the foundational principles of animal welfare law and name the ethical and societal nuances associated with these principles; - Identify the shift in legal perception of animals from property to sentient beings with inherent value; - Describe the legal principles that address animal abuse, cruelty, and neglect across national, EU, and international frameworks; - Classify the differences in legal and ethical frameworks concerning companion versus agricultural animals; - Explain the roles and challenges of regulatory bodies and law enforcement agencies in enforcing animal welfare standards; - Discuss the comparative analyses of animal protection laws across various jurisdictions, emphasizing Maltese, EU, and international law; - Illustrate the influence of cultural and socio-political factors on animal welfare legislation; - Review past challenges and prospective developments in animal welfare law, providing insights into ongoing and future changes. 2. Skills By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Critically analyse and evaluate legal texts, case studies, and scholarly articles, synthesizing diverse perspectives to form comprehensive insights into animal welfare law; - Navigate through the Maltese laws and regulations, as well as court judgments, which are relevant to animal welfare and animal rights; - Peruse the relevant EU Directives, Regulations and Decisions, as well as European Court judgments and rulings relating to animal welfare and animal rights; - Identify international obligations (if any) pertaining to the jurisdiction in question by examining the relevant treaty law (including signatories and State parties thereto) in the context of animal welfare and animal rights; - Undertake a comparative analysis of legal frameworks across different jurisdictions, discerning subtle differences and their broader implications; - Critically assess distinct legal and ethical frameworks concerning companion versus agricultural animals and be well-versed in laws addressing animal abuse, cruelty, and neglect; - Identify lacunae in the law and propose (and draft) amendments to existing laws on animal welfare and animal rights as required, in keeping with contemporary problems and challenges. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: 1. David DeGrazia, Animal Rights: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions, OUP, 2002) 2. Tom L. Beauchamp (Editor); R. G. Frey (Editor), The Oxford Handbook of Animal Ethics (OUP, 2014) 3. Joan E. Schaffner, An Introduction to Animals and the Law (The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series, 2010) 4. Noel Sweeney, A Practical Approach to Animal Welfare Law (2nd ed., 5m Books Ltd, 2017) 5. Raffael Fasel and Sean Butler, Animal Rights Law (Hart Publishing, 2023) 6. Andrew Linzey and Clair Linzey, Animal Ethics and Animal Law (Lexington Books, 2022) 7. Charlotte E. Blattner, Protecting Animals Within and Across Borders (OUP, 2019). Supplementary Readings: 1. Sonia S. Waisman, Pamela D. Frasch, Katherine M. Hessler, Animal Law in a Nutshell (West Academic Publishing, 2022) 2. Cass R. Sunstein (Editor); Martha C. Nussbaum (Editor), Animal Rights: current debates and new directions (OUP, 2005) 3. Anne Peters, Animals in International Law (Brill, 2021) 4. Anne Peters, Studies in Global Animal Law (Springer Nature, 2020) 5. Deborah Cao (ed.) and Steven White (ed), Animal Law and Welfare - International Perspectives (Springer International Publishing, 2016) 6. David Favre, The Future of Animal Law (Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, 2022) 7. David Favre, Animal Law: Welfare Interests and Rights (Aspen Coursebook, Aspen, 2019) 8. Gabriela Steier, Farm Animal Welfare Law: International Perspectives on Sustainable Agriculture and Wildlife Regulation (Essentials in Animal Law and Welfare, CRC Press, 2023) 9. Katy Barnett and Jeremy Gans, Guilty Pigs: The Weird and Wonderful History of Animal Law (La Trobe University Press, 2022) 10. Ian A. Robertson, Animals, Welfare and the Law: Fundamental Principles for Critical Assessment (Routledge, 2015) 11. Palmer Julian and Godfrey Sandys-Winsch, Animal Law (3rd ed. Crayford: Shaw & Sons, 2001) 12.Mike Radford, Animal Welfare Law in Britain: Regulation and Responsibility (1st ed., OUP, 2001). |
||||||||
| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
|
||||||||
| LECTURER/S | |||||||||
|
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
|||||||||