Course Syllabus
Testi di riferimento
All students shall prepar the final exam studying all the materials proposed on e-learning platform.
Sustainable Development Goals
Learning objectives
The course aims to foster a thorough knowledge and awareness on the Animal Law from a national and European perspective with a comparative approach.
The course is designed for students who wish:
- to acquire a thorough legal knowledge of the animal law, which so far has not been offered by their degree program;
- to deepen their knowledge of the legal position of animal;
- to develop targeted competencies in for their careers.
Contents
In order to offer a complete overview of Animal Law, the course will focus on the following main issues:
− the actual legal status of animals in the Italy and in a comparative perspective as well as in EU regulation and international conventions;
− criminal laws protecting animals;
− animal welfare in food and agricultural law, tourism and textile production;
− animal welfare, regulations and animal testing;
− duties and liabilities of animals’ owners.
− animal law and sustainability issues.
The course is based on a collaborative approach to learning, involving a high level of interaction during lessons. Active participation from students is required, as well as suggestions of specific readings that will facilitate discussion during the course.
Detailed program
The program articulates in four parts in order to cover four main topics:
Part 1. What is the legal status of animals in main European Countries and in EU laws?
This part serves as a general introduction describing the current position of animals in the main European countries. It consists in the following lectures:
- The Italian legislative framework and the Italian constitutional reform
- Comparison with other legal systems
- The current regulatory European framework and EU legislative initiative
- Animal law and policy developments in EU
Part 2. Criminal laws protecting animals
This part is dedicated to explore the interrelation between criminal law and animal protection as well as on the
bodies active in the field of animal of animal protection
Part. 3 Animal welfare in food and agricultural production, tourism, fashion and textile production
This part will intend to give a scientific evaluation of the approach to animal welfare in relation to industrial activities
in food, tourism and textile sectors, as well as with reference to animal testing. In this module, some lessons will
be dedicated to areas other than the law as it seems essential to have a basic interdisciplinary approach for the
understanding of the underlying topics
Part. 4 Duties and liabilities of animals’ owners and issues related to family law
The last part will address the issue related to the position of animals as family members, as well as to issues strictly
related to private law matters, i.e. liability, family issues concerning animals.
Prerequisites
Good skills in reasoning and reading legal materials
Teaching methods
19 two-hour lessons held in presence, with a first part face-to-face (DE) and a second part interactive (DI)
2 two-hour lessons delivered remotely
Assessment methods
Oral test. Preparation of a final essay is possible only when agreed with professor
