What is Animal Dignity in Law?

Abstract

The article seeks to understand dignity in the context of primarily European animal law. Its main claim is that the notion of dignity is used in animal law discourse to express claims of more-than-welfarism. Whereas welfarism is premised on the humane treatment of animals and the prevention of unnecessary suffering, animal dignity is premised on respect for animals. However, adopting dignity-premised legal regulation does not necessarily entail the abandonment of welfarism. Rather, jurisdictions that have adopted dignity-based animal law have left welfarist regulations mostly intact. Hence, in its current stage of development, dignity-based animal law does not replace but rather augments the welfarist regime by “plugging its gaps”. Dignity-based animal law is then identified as consisting of four aspects: non-instrumentalization, egalitarianism, flourishing, and essence-respect. Finally, the article discusses the relationship of dignity to intrinsic value, arguing that the legal recognition of animals’ dignity is neither necessary nor sufficient for a recognition of their intrinsic value as individuals.