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9 Hastings Women's L.J. 255 (1998)
The Transition from Property to People: The Road to the Recognition of Rights for Non-Human Animals

handle is hein.journals/haswo9 and id is 261 raw text is: The Transition From Property to People: The Road to the Recognition of Rights for Non-Human Animals Derek W. St.Pierre* By what measure is the comparative value of lives to be measured? -Regina v. Dudley and Stevensi We are not just rather like animals; we are animals. -Mary Midgley2 The classification of a living being as property has long been an effec- tive tool in perpetuating the subordination of that being. By defining a living organism as property, the law has already decided what limits to place on protecting the interests of that individual.3 To label something property, is, for all intents and purposes, to conclude that the entity so la- beled possesses no interests that merit protection and that the entity is solely a means to the end determined by the property owner.'A Not long ago, the concept of property included various classes of hu- mans. In the Seventeenth contury, Africans brought into the United States were bought and sold as chattel.5 During this same period, women, once *The author is a 1998 graduate of the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. He would like to thank those involved in the process that became this Note, especially Law- rence Weiss, Jo Carillo, Bruce Wagman, Lisa Scanlon and Christine Troy. 1. 1881-85 All E.R. 61 (Q.B. 1884). 2. MARY MMOLEY, BEASTANDMANat xiii (1978). 3. See GARY L. FRANC=NE, ANnMALS, PROPERTY, AND THE LAW 49 (1995). 4. Id. at 253. 5. See William M. Wiecek, The Origins of the Law of Slavery in British North America, 17 CARDozoL. Ray. 1711, 1779 (1996). HASTINGS WOMEN'S LAW JOURNAL

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