Our Centre
The Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law is an academic centre of competence dedicated to the study of fundamental rights for non-human animals and is based in Cambridge, UK. The Centre builds on the success of the Talking Animals, Law & Philosophy series which has become a renowned forum for exchange of research in animal rights law ever since its inception in 2015.
Why animal rights law? The welfare of animals has been on moral, social, and legal agenda since the 19th century. The idea that animals could be regarded as holders of fundamental rights akin to those of human beings has also existed for many years, but has received less attention for a variety of reasons, including its fundamental challenge to the view of animals as property. Perhaps as a result there is relatively little academic study into the jurisprudence and legal foundations of animal rights laws and their social and economic consequences. Our Centre wants to remedy this situation.
Our Centre:
researches and publishes in the field of animal rights law, exploring and developing the key themes;
teaches Animal Rights Law and other such courses to students;
offers talks for lay audiences;
supports law faculties at other universities internationally to assist them in offering their own courses, so that Animal Rights Law becomes a mainstream course within law degrees;
holds conferences and workshops for legal academics.
The Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights law is a registered charity in the UK (Registered Charity Number 1190232).
Please note that our Centre is an independent centre, not part of Cambridge University Law Faculty or St Edmund’s College.
End-of-Year Reports
Starting in 2023, our Centre is publishing an End-of-Year Report on its activities for donors. You can download the Reports as a PDF file here.