Habeas Corpus, “Happy The Elephant” And Granting Rights & Legal Personhood To Nonhuman Animals – Legal Issues
Under the common law, all nonhuman animals have long been regarded as “things” incapable of possessing even a single legal right. In May 2021, the New York Court of Appeals agreed to accept the habeas corpus appeal of Happy, an elephant confined to the Bronx Zoo for over 40 years, marking the first time the high court of any jurisdiction will consider whether the common law of habeas corpus extends the right to bodily liberty beyond human beings. The Court is being asked to recognize Happy as a “person” under Article 70 of the CPLR (the habeas corpus procedural statute) and order her freed to an elephant sanctuary. The presenters, Kevin Schneider and Elizabeth Stein, are attorneys representing Happy for the Nonhuman Rights Project, which in December 2013 filed the world’s first nonhuman animal habeas corpus petition under the common law in New York State Supreme Court, Fulton County, on behalf of a chimpanzee named Tommy. The presenters will discuss the current legal situation for nonhuman animals in New York, the history and present use of the writ of habeas corpus, and responses of state trial and appellate court judges to the question of whether a nonhuman animal may possess the right to bodily liberty protected by New York’s common law of habeas corpus. The presenters will also briefly review judicial opinions from outside the United States granting rights and legal personhood to nonhuman animals, including specifically the right to bodily liberty protected by habeas corpus.
- September 29, 2021
- 10:00 AM
- 12:00 PM
- 2.0
- 2.0
- Virtual Participation
10:00 – 10:10 a.m.
Welcome and Introductions
10:10 – 11:00 a.m.
The presenters will begin by considering some fundamental questions: What rights, if any, do nonhuman animals currently possess in New York and in other jurisdictions? What is the difference between a legal “thing” and a legal “person”? What does common law habeas corpus have to do with the rights of nonhuman animals? Why argue from the common law and not welfare statutes? We will examine the history and present use of habeas corpus in New York and its roots in the common law of England, looking at some key decisions.
The discussion will move on to describing the work of the Nonhuman Rights Project and reviewing judicial opinions in habeas corpus cases for nonhuman animals brought in New York between 2013-18. Specifically, we will look at five petitions on behalf of chimpanzees in New York. We will focus on three New York appellate division cases, Lavery I, Lavery II, and Presti.
Speakers:
Kevin Schneider, Esq., Executive Director
Elizabeth Stein, Esq., New York Counsel
Nonhuman Rights Project
New York, NY
(1.0 Areas of Professional Practice)
11:00 – 11:50 a.m.
The program will continue, moving next to reviewing the concurring opinion of Judge Eugene Fahey of the Court of Appeals in Tommy (2018). Judge Fahey’s concurrence marked the first time that a sitting high court judge in any jurisdiction remarked on the question of habeas corpus for nonhuman animals. We will explain how this concurrence forms a foundation for the arguments advanced in Happy’s case. We will also look at the importance of amicus curiae briefs in the concurrence.
In the final part of the program, we will look in detail at Breheny, Happy’s historic habeas corpus case, including the reaction of the trial court (Bronx County), the Zoo’s arguments against Happy’s right to bodily liberty, the reaction of the First Department on appeal, and the NhRP’s arguments to the Court of Appeals. We will also look at foreign case law on the question of legal rights for nonhuman animals, including opinions from Colombia and Pakistan which have cited Breheny and Tommy favorably in arguing for the recognition of the legal rights of various nonhuman animals.
(1.0 Areas of Professional Practice)
Speakers:
Kevin Schneider, Esq., Executive Director
Elizabeth Stein, Esq., New York Counsel
Nonhuman Rights Project
New York, NY
11:50 – 12:00 p.m.
Questions & Answers
- Kevin Schneider, Esq., Speaker, Nonhuman Rights Project
- Elizabeth Stein, Esq., Speaker, Nonhuman Rights Project
- Webinar
- 0LA11
- Committee on Animals and the Law
- General Practice Section
