ABSTRACT
Law has divided the world into two parts: on the one hand, people; on the other, things, everything that is not a person being necessarily a thing, an object of law. However, this status is not adapted to the “sensitive being” animal that some would like to see as a subject of law and requires that an alternative status be sought. The status of “non-human person” which is most often claimed is, however, questionable and can only be considered with infinite caution. It would undoubtedly be appropriate to confer on it an intermediate status between the person and the thing without making it the person it is not, even non-human, to make respect for the animal an effective obligation and to base these obligations on the dignity of man as much as on animal dignity.
