Course Catalogue

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This course examines the way in which animals are treated under the law and will consider the legal, moral and ethical considerations relevant to their legal treatment. The course will examine the historical and contemporary approach of the law to animals and their welfare and examine the work of selected contemporary animal rights theorists.

There will be 10 x 2-hour seminars spread throughout semester 2.

This course is only available to LLB students.

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Essay: 2000 words. It will be worth 25% of the overall assessment.

Examination: 2 hours. Students will be expected to answer 2 questions from 4. It will be worth 75% of the overall assessment.

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. Where, exceptionally, reassessment on Honours courses is required to satisfy professional/accreditation requirements, only the overall course grade achieved at the first attempt will contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

The aim of the course is to introduce students to key concepts in animal law and to provide them with a grounding in the comparative approaches, primarily in the common law world, to questions of animal status and welfare. The course will investigate developments in scientific experimentation with animals and the legal and ethical questions that arise in this area.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Explain the historical development of animal welfare legislation in the United Kingdom and the forces and ideas that influenced it.

■ Produce sustained legal arguments relative to the legal and ethical treatment of companion animals, production animals and wild animals with reference to UK law and the law of other systems studied.

■ Evaluate theoretical positions relating to the use of animals in research and demonstrate and understanding of the law relevant to animal welfare.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.