Protection and Status of Animals

1. Constitutions mention animals in many different contexts. This entry will focus on the relatively recent phenomenon of textual provisions that assign constitutional significance to the experiences of individual nonhuman animals (hereafter simply ‘animals’). This category includes provisions that reference the ‘welfare’ or ‘dignity’ of animals, the ‘protection’ of animals, ‘compassion’ for animals, or ‘cruelty’ towards animals as matters of constitutional concern. These provisions, which we will refer to as ‘animal protection provisions,’ treat individual...