Pace Environmental Law Review Volume 37 Issue 2 Spring 2020 Article 1 May 2020 Bringing Animal Protection Legislation Into Line With its Purported Purposes: A Proposal for Equality Amongst Non- Human Animals Jane Kotzmann Deakin University Gisela Nip Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/pelr Part of the Animal Law Commons, Energy and Utilities Law Commons, Environmental Law Commons, International Law Commons, and the Natural Resources Law Commons Recommended Citation Jane Kotzmann and Gisela Nip, Bringing Animal Protection Legislation Into Line With its Purported Purposes: A Proposal for Equality Amongst Non-Human Animals, 37 Pace Envtl. L. Rev. 247 (2020) Available at: https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/pelr/vol37/iss2/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Law at DigitalCommons@Pace. It has been accepted for inclusion in Pace Environmental Law Review by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Pace. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. ARTICLE Bringing Animal Protection Legislation Into Line With its Purported Purposes: A Proposal for Equality Amongst Non-Human Animals JANE KOTZMANN* & GISELA NIP† The United States has a strong history of enacting laws to pro- tect animals from the pain and suffering inflicted by humans. In- deed, the passage of the Massachusetts’ Body of Liberties in 1641 made it the first country in the world to pass such laws. Neverthe- less, contemporary animal protection laws in all jurisdictions of the United States are limited in their ability to adequately realize their primary purpose of protecting animals from unnecessary or unjus- tifiable pain and suffering.