ABSTRACT
Humankind’s use of animals stretches back into prehistory, but the protection of animals through the use of law is only a relatively recent development. Contemporary legal approaches to animals primarily attempt to protect other species from some of the more morally questionable practices of humans in the form of abuse, neglect or mistreatment; however, a glance through the pages of history shows a far different picture. For centuries animals had no legal protection, being treated merely as property, not deserving of welfare protection and even, on occasion, the recipients of harsh treatment as the result of legal proceedings against them: ‘Justice, indeed, so far as animals are concerned, seems in earlier days to have dispensed altogether with her scales, and to have worn a permanent bandage over that eye which should have been turned to the wrongs [against] dumb creatures.’1
