THE ADVOCATE 415
VOL. 78 PART 3 MAY 2020
UVIC LAW
FACULTY NEWS
By Holly Cecil*
PROFESSOR MANEESHA DECKHA AND THE GLOBAL SURGE IN ANIMAL
LAW PROGRAMS
The field of animal law has experienced near-exponential growth over the
past two decades. Primarily the result of student demand, a dozen law
schools in Canada now offer courses related to animal law. Here at the UVic
Faculty of Law, Professor and Lansdowne Chair in Law Maneesha Deckha
has taught courses in animal law through a socio-legal lens for almost 15
years.
Professor Deckha observes: “An increasing number of those involved in
legal education are rethinking the law’s species-based hierarchy that places
humans at the apex. This flourishing interest in animal law is paralleled by
growth in the field of Critical Animal Studies”.1
Research in animal law has also grown with more and more scholars and
students interested in tackling the challenges that human exceptionalist
laws, behaviours and worldviews present. Most recently, Deckha was
awarded a SSHRC Insight Grant for a five-year research program on “The
Rule of Law, Animal Vulnerability, and Animal Agriculture”. This project
examines the over 700 million farmed animals raised for human consumption
in Canadian land-based animal agriculture every year, in conditions of
extreme confinement and natural behaviour deprivation.2
The importance of Deckha’s research in animal law garnered her recognition
from the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy,3 a U.S.-
based independent think tank. Based on the calibre of Professor Deckha’s
work, the Brooks Institute has selected UVic as one of only two inaugural
Canadian member institutions in the Brooks Animal Studies Academic Net-
* Holly Cecil is the project coordinator of the Animals & Society Research Initiative at UVic Law. More information about this
initiative can be obtained at <uvic.ca/asri> or <aasri@uvic.ca>.