Seminare FS 2024

Prof. Maneesha Deckha, Lansdowne Chair in Law, University of Victoria, Canada
Prof. Maneesha Deckha
Prof. Margot Michel, Chair for Private Law, Comparative Law, Animal Law and Legal Philosophy, University of Zurich

Seminar: April, 16-17, 2024
Place: University of Zurich
Information Event: November 8^th, 2024, 2 p.m., via Zoom

Due Date Bachelor Theses: February 29^th 2024
Due Date Master Theses: will be agreed upon individually with supervisor

This seminar, conducted in English, takes an animal-centered approach to examine how law shapes (more-than-human/other-than-human) animals’ lives. The focus is on inviting participants to dive into animal law and explore how human exceptionalism and anthropocentrism operate in Swiss and other legal systems to the detriment of animals and to consider how this status could change. This also entails attention to animal use and human rights and (some) responsibilities current laws facilitate that shape animals’ legal treatment as well as the underlying cultural, religious, and economic norms scaffolding these laws. The seminar gives participants the opportunity to deal with a broad range of topics in the field of animal law. Possible topics that can be worked on in-depth by participants in the context of bachelor’s or master’s theses include Swiss, European, and Anglo-American legal jurisprudence as well as leading animal law scholarship and critical interdisciplinary theoretical perspectives.
Participants will be introduced to the field and the topics at the information event. They will also be handed out a list of topics and introductory literature and will be assigned topics in the weeks following the information event. No previous knowledge of animal law or animal ethics is expected or required. The seminar and all written work will be conducted in English.
Topics can also be suggested by the participants. If you are interested to suggest a topic, please do this via e-mail before the information event.

List of Topics (PDF, 337 KB)