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6 J. Animal L. 81 (2010)
Brazilian Animal Law Overview: Balancing Human and Non-Human Interests

handle is hein.journals/janimlaw6 and id is 87 raw text is: Brazilian Animal Law Overview: Balancing Human and Non-Human Interests BRAZILIAN ANIMAL LAW OVERVIEW: BALANCING HUMAN AND NON-HUMAN INTERESTS TAGORE TRAJANO DE ALMEIDA SILVA* I. INTRODUCTION In this essay, I will explore the state of Animal Law in the Brazilian system. Until recently, Brazilian scholars have excessively focused on the philosophical debate. These scholars have written books, given lectures, and held conferences without ever discussing a significant point: How should the Brazilian judiciary respond to the animal rights debate? Such a question is of principal importance, as are a number of other social problems in Brazil relating to animal welfare, providing one more issue for the judges, Justices, and theoretical activists to ponder. I will clarify where Brazilian theory is in the current debate in the courts, universities, and legislative branches. In conclusion, I will suggest a frame of reference from which other scholars can work to develop this important area of law. I1. BRAZILIAN FOOTSTEPS: THE LEGISLATURE BEGINNING OF THE ANIMAL WELFARE LAWS Brazil, as most SouthAmerican countries, has adopted the Civil Law tradition.' Since its beginning, this system has denied that judges make law and that judicial decisions can be a source of law.2 There was a dependency on legislation and a reliance on a system which considered the judge a machine that made decisions solely according to statute. Beyond this legal tradition, the Brazilian legal culture has based * Visiting Scholar at Michigan State University/USA. Scholar of Federal University of Bahia Col- lege of Law (Brazil). Master degree at the same University (UFBA). Animal Abolitionism Institute Director. Brazilian lawyer. I would like to thank Professor David Favre for encouraging and believ- ing in my work as well as inviting me to spend six months improving my English and learning about the American Legal system at MSU. I wish to thank Donna Clark for assuming the heavy burden of evaluating every line of several drafts of this article. I wish to thank a number of people who helped with researching and editing the material contained in this Article, including Professor Noga Morag- Levine, Professor Steven Wise, David N. Cassuto, and Kathy Hessler as well as Flavio van Boekel, Peter Richard, and Michael Daum. I wish to express my appreciation to Ritaumaria Pereira and all of my international friends at MSU who helped in this particular period in my life. I also wish to thank Professor Song Wei for inviting me to visit the JM Education Center and held an academic ex- change with some of law postgraduates and teachers of USTC/China. Finally, I would like to thank Professor Ant6nio Herman Benjamin, Professor Heron Santana Gordilho, Professor M6nica Aguiar, and Professor Jonhson Meira Santos for the recommendation to study at MSU; and all of Fulbright Commission - Education/USA Center for admission and advisers, specially, Rita Moriconi, Mag- n6lia Santos, Andreza Martins, and Rejfnia Araiijo. The tradition of civil law is characterized by a particular interaction among Roman Law, Germanic Law and local customs, and canon law. See generally, Mary Ann Glendon et. al. COMPARATIVE LEGAL TRADITIONS, Thomson and West. 3rd edition, 17 (2008). 2 Id. at 56.

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