ABSTRACT
Legal obligations to animals may arise due to private relationships or dealings with animals, or under a theory of public law in which society demands that all citizens treat animals in a particular manner. Ethics, law, rights, social obligation, standards, and morality are conceptually bound together. Though these concepts are patched together, ethics is the individual concept that has come to broadly encompass animal legal issues. Throughout US history morality has been regulated by the government. Public morality continues to be regulated. Morality is relevant to criminal justice analyses in terms of constitutionality of laws and police powers, and in terms of how morality's role in law and lawmaking could be extended or minimized through democratic processes. Moral reasons for protecting animals can include animals' intrinsic value and maintenance of human morality to benefit human society and character. Many aspects of civil and criminal law allow society to act on behalf of animals' interests.
