The following drafts are solely for the purpose of the 2026 Brooks Annual Workshop for Scholars. Please do not cite or circulate. Thank you.
Residing Humility
Nico Cornell, University of Michigan
In moral philosophy, political theorizing, and even policymaking, one regularly sees references to the need for epistemic humility. This is mostly a healthy practice. It is crucial that we appreciate the uncertainty under which we act, the opacity of others’ experiences and interests, and—generally—the limits of our knowledge about what we can do and what the effects of our actions will be. But calls for epistemic humility are so familiar that one might wonder: Is there any other kind? The ubiquitous invocations of epistemic forms of humility might implicitly suggest not. I will argue that there is.
Excluding Animals from Relationality: Equivalent Equality and Rights of Nature for Animals
Angela Fernandez, Henry N.R. Jackman Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
The draft paper I have submitted is a submission for a book honouring my retired colleague Jenny Nedelsky. It starts off my telling you a little bit about her and her book Law’s Relations, which was published in 2012. It then focuses in on Rights of Nature (RoN) and animals in Canada, focusing primarily on a series of three proposed laws banning the captivity, breeding, and display for entertainment purposes of elephants, great apes, cetaceans and other designated animals which came from Senator Murray Sinclair, ex-Chair of the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2008-2015). It builds on an interview piece with Senator Sinclair a few months before he passed away in November 2024 and in which he spoke about connections between his animal protection work and RoN. The argument focuses on the distinction between explicit RoN provisions for animals and this historical moment circa (roughly 2019-2025) in which one can understand Senator Sinclair’s work as providing a proposed framework of implicit RoN provisions for animals, which put animals first but was not based on personhood and rights but on an animal’s best interests, a limited form of legal standing, and an Indigenous framework of respect for animals and the environment.
The straw that broke the camel's back' may be a dog or a cat: The relevance of animal maltreatment in cases where the defensive actions of intimate partner violence victims survivors are criminalized
Amy Fitzgerald, University of Windsor
In 2024, Paris Laroche was tried in the British Columbia Supreme Court for killing her reportedly abusive boyfriend after he choked her cat (R v. Laroche). The prosecution argued the abuse of the cat was irrelevant, and thus Laroche was not a battered woman acting in self-defence and was charged with first-degree murder. I was admitted as an expert witness for the defence; my report and testimony drew on the research my research team and I have been conducting for years on the relationship between animal abuse and intimate partner violence (IPV). I testified that the abuse of the cat was indeed relevant, described the now ample empirical evidence of a relationship between animal abuse and IPV, explained that victims-survivors often see animal abuse as an extension of their own victimization, and some will put the well-being of their companion animals ahead of their own. Laroche was convicted of second-degree murder with parole eligibility in 12 years instead of a life sentence with parole eligibility in 25 years—the consequences of a first-degree murder conviction in Canada.
Breaking the Rules: The Surprising World of Animal Humor
Lori Gruen, Wesleyan University
Thank you so much for reading this preliminary draft of a proposal and the chapter I wrote (slightly modified) for an edited volume that got me excited about the topic of Animal Humor. My deep hope is to have this be a popular book, and if that were to happen, I may have more luck with the other projects I’ve been working on that I would like to be trade books, but currently are “too” philosophical. I’d love feedback on the ideas and any thoughts you have about the chapter that I will develop in the book. I would also love any suggestions about scientists and others who I might talk to about humorous animal behavior.
The Exploitation and Protection of Octopuses in the United States
Jennifer Jacquet, University of Miami
Octopuses are subject to a wide range of human uses, including direct exploitation for seafood markets, use in research as ‘model organisms,’ public display in zoos and aquaria, and most recently as potential subjects of commercial farming. In addition, octopuses face other human stressors including habitat degradation due to pollution, including climate change. Despite growing scientific recognition of octopus agency, sentience, and cognition and the need for better welfare standards, protections for octopuses are largely absent and piecemeal at best. The result is a system where octopuses are highly visible as food, research subjects, public attractions, and the possible subjects of commercial farming yet remain exempt from legal oversight, both at the individual level in terms of animal welfare and at the species level. This chapter documents the ways octopuses are currently anthropogenically exploited, managed, and protected in the U.S. and emphasizes recent developments at the state and federal levels to prevent the development of commercial octopus farming.
A Star is Born: GWP*, Climate Change, and the Politics of Metrics
Doug Kysar, Yale Law School
My co-authors (Viveca Morris and Laurie Sellars) and I are studying the rise of GWP* as a new method for converting short-lived greenhouse gases – primarily methane – into carbon dioxide equivalencies. There is a sound scientific rationale behind GWP* for certain applications, but the metric has the convenient effect of portraying nations or actors within the global meat industry as being essentially equivalent to a non-emitter, so long as the livestock herd size of those nations or actors remains constant. Needless to say, this feature of GWP* has attracted the meat industry’s interest. The resulting interactions between science and policymaking are fascinating and, we believe, important. Our challenge is to pull all of the research we have done into a coherent article that explains the science without getting mired in it, and that pulls the lens back to shed some revealing light on the role of science within climate politics and law. We very much look forward to your comments and suggestions.
Personhood Deference
Ela Leshem, Fordham University
I’m hoping to test out a new paper idea with you. It’s growing out of a paper about flag desecration and the First Amendment that I’m in the midst of writing. The flag paper raises a broader question about how we should navigate disagreements about moral status under the U.S. Constitution. The idea for the new paper is to explore this broader question in three contexts: animal emancipation, anti-abortion legislation, and anti-slavery abolition. Below, I will sketch the idea for the new paper in broad strokes. I will be excited to test out these ideas with you and to benefit from your thoughts and comments at this very early stage. Thank you for reading and engaging with this project. I look forward to our conversation.
Rights Litigation Book Project
Matthew Liebman, University of San Francisco School of Law
I am at the early stages of conceptualizing, outlining, and drafting a book-length manuscript that critically evaluates the movement to establish fundamental legal rights and legal personhood for animals through litigation in American courts (and possibly also through legislative advocacy). My goal is to engage in a clear-eyed assessment of whether this strategy is likely to succeed in the near future, to identify structural limitations to success, and to evaluate what may be left on the table despite these obstacles. While I support – and have helped litigate – these efforts, I am skeptical that they can succeed in our current legal, social, and political landscape. This book is my effort to work through my intellectual support for a seemingly lost cause and to conceptualize its alternatives.
Kaavan and Islamabad Zoo Case Book Project
Kristen Stilt, Harvard Law School
The background to this book idea is that I invited Judge Minallah to HLS this spring to give a public talk and also for a discussion with my Islamic law seminar about his lengthy Kaavan decision (if you don’t have a copy and would like one please ask me) and his subsequent decisions on the Islamabad High Court that he considers the development of his biocentric jurisprudence. He spent a week in town and we had many discussions, and I learned some significant back stories of the Kaavan case.Property Regimes in Domestic Predator Societies
M.H. Tse, Henry N.R. Jackman Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
According to American legal realist critiques of the 20th century, the liberty of private property is neither private nor free. As Morris Cohen writes in Property and Sovereignty, “dominion over things is also imperium over our fellow human beings.” The property right of owners to exclude non-owners from the things they need to survive, he observes, confers a sovereign power on the owner to compel service and obedience from the latter. To illustrate this, Cohen offers a striking example: “If Laban has the sole disposal of his daughters and his cattle, Jacob must serve him if he desires to possess them.” In this seminal piece, Cohen reveals the coercive power that the state passes to Laban over Jacob, through the dominion Laban holds over his daughters and his cattle. But the dominion Laban holds over his daughters and cattle receives no notice or description. They are within the frame but out of view. How did this relation disappear even in the field’s sharpest critiques of property and power?
Independent Writing Topics
Nico Cornell
Paper idea concerning specific performance as a remedy for corporate pledges related to climate and sustainability
Maneesha Deckha
From Research Object to Legal Subject: A Law-led Transition to Animal-Free Labs & A Research Agenda for Postcolonial Animal Studies
Angela Fernandez
Supreme Court of Canada 19th C Fishing Case Book Project
Amy Fitzgerald
The scale of animal maltreatment perpetrated by abusive partners that we have developed and validated
Lori Gruen
Breaking the Rules: The Surprising World of Animal Humor
Jennifer Jacquet
The promise of ’no-entry zones’ for animal protection, particularly in the oceans
Dale Jamieson
How subfields such as animal ethics develop within disciplines, and the opportunities and obstacles that this presents for making change
Doug Kysar
A Star is Born: GWP*, Climate Change, and the Politics of Metrics
Ela Leshem
Personhood Deference
Matthew Liebman
Rights Litigation Book Project
Justin Marceau
Animal Law Coursebook & Revisions on a forthcoming article about animal activism and aiding and abetting liability
Kristen Stilt
Animal Law Coursebook
M.H. Tse
Property Regimes in Domestic Predator Societies
Delci Winders
The Animal Welfare Act