{"id":764583,"date":"2021-08-19T08:38:21","date_gmt":"2021-08-19T12:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=764583"},"modified":"2021-08-19T09:10:42","modified_gmt":"2021-08-19T13:10:42","slug":"not-things-spain-poised-to-recognize-animal-sentience-within-civil-code","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=764583","title":{"rendered":"NOT THINGS, NOT PERSONS: Spain poised to recognize animal sentience within civil code, they are ‘living property’"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Spain\u2019s 'animal sentience' proposal places animals in a legal category distinct from inanimate objects (i.e., things), but also different from other forms of life, such as people.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\n

NICOLE PALLOTTA:<\/strong> The Spanish Parliament approved consideration of a bill that would amend the country\u2019s Civil Code to recognize animals are \u201cliving beings endowed with sentience\u201d rather than \u201cthings,\u201d specifically \u201cmoveable property.\u201d This approval is the first step toward updating animals\u2019 legal status in the Spanish Civil Code \u2014 among other reforms consistent with that change. While there are additional steps before the bill is finalized, Spanish advocates are optimistic it will be adopted based on the overwhelming support it received in parliament…<\/p>\n

As explained in the text of the bill, Spain updated its Penal Code in 2003 to differentiate damage to companion animals from damage to objects, with this reform being further developed in 2015. However, the government failed to likewise amend the Civil Code. This was set to happen when a similar measure was unanimously approved in 2017, but that bill was never finalized due to the dissolution of Parliament in 2019. This meant the bill had to be reintroduced…<\/p>\n

In addition to enshrining animal sentience within the Civil Code generally, the bill would also amend Spain\u2019s Mortgage Law and Civil Procedure Law in ways consistent with the recognition that animals are different from other forms of property… Spain\u2019s proposed reform would change animals\u2019 legal status from \u201cthings\u201d to \u201cliving beings endowed with sentience.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does this mean? As is currently the case with other legal systems that formally recognize animal sentience, animals would still be classified as property under Spain\u2019s proposed law. However, the reform would essentially create a third category \u2014 something akin to \u201cliving property\u201d \u2014 which differentiates nonhuman animals from human beings but also acknowledges the fundamental difference between animals and other types of property…<\/p>\n

When courts are confronted with cases involving animals, the property designation, without further clarification, often leads to unjust outcomes that are inconsistent with the nature of animals as living, feeling beings. Spain\u2019s bill clearly decouples these two concepts in a section titled \u201cThe Classification of Animals and Property,\u201d noting that when the property paradigm is applied to animals, their nature, well-being, and sentience must be taken into account…<\/p>\n

The bill further notes that earlier versions of sentience legislation in Europe defined animals by what they are not (i.e., animals are not \u201cthings\u201d). However, more recent versions \u2014 including Spain\u2019s proposal \u2014 define them according to what they are (i.e., \u201csentient beings\u201d). This formulation places animals in a legal category distinct from inanimate objects but also different from other forms of life, e.g. people and plants…<\/p>\n

The bill text frames the proposed reform by noting it would bring Spain\u2019s Civil Code into line with contemporary thinking on animals, as well as nearby legal systems. The bill observes that \u2014 along with the European Union and numerous existing regulations in Spanish law \u2014 several European countries have changed their legal codes to formally recognize animal sentience…<\/p>\n

Those legal systems include Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, and, most recently, France and Portugal. Several jurisdictions outside of Europe have also enshrined animal sentience as a legal principle, including the Australian Capital Territory in 2019, and New Zealand and the Canadian Province of Quebec in 2015… In the United States, animal sentience is not formally codified in federal legislation. However, at the state level \u2014 where most animal protection laws reside \u2014 some cruelty codes explicitly recognize sentience…<\/p>\n

Efforts to codify legal recognition of animal sentience have sparked debate about whether such reforms have a practical effect or are merely symbolic. Spain\u2019s bill makes clear that sentience is a legal principle that must guide law and policy regarding animals in the country. In other words, the reform is not intended to be merely symbolic.<\/p>\n

While this stated intent is promising, whether the proposed change will have a practical impact remains to be seen. However, even \u201cmerely symbolic\u201d laws can have a positive societal effect in terms of signaling and shaping social norms, as well as providing courts with legislative statements that can support decisions favorable to animals\u2019 well-being and interests \u2014 even if this has yet to widely happen. Therefore, sentience laws can be viewed as laying the foundational groundwork for future reforms even if practical impacts thus far appear to be minimal or non-existent. SOURCE…<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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