Fundamental animal rights from the perspective of the decision-making of the constitutional judiciary of the Swiss Confederation

Jurisprudence 5/2024 Section: Articles Page: 7-17

Keywords: fundamental rights; fundamental animal rights; anthropocentrism; speciesism; legal subjectivity

Abstract: The article aims to analyse the 2019 and 2020 decisions of the Swiss constitutional judiciary, which have admitted that some animals could be holders of certain fundamental rights, thus representing a unique phenomenon within European legal thinking based on strong anthropocentric foundations. The article will place the conclusions of this analysis in a legal-philosophical context and link them to a critical analysis of the moral anthropocentrism whose inconsistencies it seeks to highlight. From this perspective, it will try to deduce why (at least some) animals should indeed be holders of fundamental rights. Subsequently, the paper will also address the question of how such a situation could be realized from a legal-theoretical point of view, finding its way in the concept of so-called "limited" legal personality.

Download

Journal Archive

Full archive