Videos – Conference “Animal sensibility: legal approaches and transdisciplinary issues

Emilie Gaillard is Associate Professor (HDR) in private law at Sciences-Po Rennes, specializing in the law of future generations. She coordinates the Normandy Chair for Peace.

Opening – Gaël BALAVOINE is President of the Caen Bar Association.

This international colloquium, supported by the MRSH, was organized under the aegis of the Normandy Chair for Peace, with the support of the Demolombe Institute, Caen la Mer and the University of Caen Normandy. The event was placed under the high patronage of Jean-Paul COSTA, President of the René Cassin Foundation, Honorary State Counselor and former President of the European Court of Human Rights.

This colloquium, the first of its kind in Normandy, had as its objectives to question the meaning and definition of the notion of animal sensitivity and to reflect on the implementation of innovative legal mechanisms intended for a better protection of the animal.

Introduction – Ethical reflections on sensitivity: Dominic HOFBAUHER (Coordinator of L214 Education)

Animal sensitivity: what can the biologist bring to the jurist? Georges CHAPOUTHIER (Emeritus Director of Research at the CNRS)

Ludovic DICKEL is Professor of Ethology at the University of Caen Normandy.

The European Union Directive 2010/63 on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes has created many upheavals in different disciplines of Biology. Among others, it has integrated for the first time the protection of invertebrate species, the cephalopod molluscs (octopuses, cuttlefish and squid). Based on the neurophysiology of behavior, the presentation will address the processes that probably led the legislator to take an interest in the welfare of these molluscs. This evolution of the regulatory provisions concerning the welfare of laboratory animals has however raised many questions in behavioral biology.

This international colloquium, supported by the MRSH, was organized under the auspices of the Normandy Chair for Peace, with the support of the Demolombe Institute, Caen la Mer and the University of Caen Normandy. The event was placed under the high patronage of Jean-Paul COSTA, President of the René Cassin Foundation, Honorary State Counselor and former President of the European Court of Human Rights.

This colloquium, the first of its kind in Normandy, had as its objectives to question the meaning and definition of the notion of animal sensitivity and to reflect on the implementation of innovative legal mechanisms intended for a better protection of the animal.

Sensitive and sentient animals: definitions and transdisciplinary issues: Astrid GUILLAUME (Associate Professor (HDR), semiotician at Sorbonne University)

The sensitivity of laboratory animals: state of the art and perspectives: Aloïse QUESNE (Associate Professor in private law at the University Paris-Saclay, Evry)

The sensitivity of consumer animals: Cathy MORALES FRENOY (Lawyer at the Paris and New-York Bars)

The sensitivity of performing animals: a comparative look at bullfighting: Marisa QUARESMA DOS REIS (Ombudsman for animals at Lisbon City Hall, PhD student in public law at the University of Lisbon)

The sensitivity of pets: the case of category dogs: Marie-Christine LEBRETON (Associate Professor in private law at the University of Le Havre Normandie)

The usefulness of a political party dedicated to the protection of animals: Hélène THOUY (Lawyer at the Bar of Bordeaux, Co-founder of the Animalist Party)

The sensitivity of the animal being in the prism of Quebec animal law: John-Nicolas MORELLO (Lawyer, President and founder of the community “Droit animalier Québec”, Canada)

The international colloquium “Animal sensitivity: legal approaches and transdisciplinary issues”, supported by the MRSH, was organized by Aloïse QUESNE, Associate Professor in private law, under the aegis of the Normandy Chair for Peace, with the support of the Demolombe Institute, Caen la Mer and the University of Caen Normandy. The event was placed under the high patronage of Jean-Paul COSTA, President of the René Cassin Foundation, Honorary State Counselor and former President of the European Court of Human Rights.

This conference, the first of its kind in Normandy, had as its objectives to question the meaning and definition of the notion of animal sentience and to reflect on the implementation of innovative legal mechanisms intended for a better protection of the animal.

John-Nicolas Morello, a lawyer and full-time practitioner for nearly thirty-five years, is president of the non-profit organization Communauté droit animalier Québec – DAQ, which he founded in 2017. Always wishing to combine his skills as a jurist with his actions in favour of animal beings, Mr. Morello seized the opportunity, in 2015, of the unanimous vote in the Quebec National Assembly of the Animal Welfare and Safety Act (AWSA), recognizing the animal [as] a sensitive being with biological imperatives, to bring together specialists from various fields around the advancement of animal ethics and law.

Summary of the communication

The legal conception and ordinary meaning of the term “animal” are the result of historical circumstances. From the founding of Quebec City by Samuel de Champlain over 400 years ago to the passage of the Animal Welfare and Safety Act (AWSA) by the Quebec National Assembly in December 2015, the “animal” has been a mere chattel that could be disposed of until it was completely destroyed.

By recognizing animals as sentient beings, the Civil Code of Québec (C.C.Q.) and the AWSA dissociate them from any notion of “property”. In the following article, we set out the consequences of this important legislative change in Quebec, both in terms of the designation of these beings now recognized as sentient and the protection to which they are now entitled. We also examine the provisions of the Act that allow the majority of animals to be excluded from any meaningful protection. The provisions of the Criminal Code of Canada, which is under federal jurisdiction, are not examined.

For a consideration of the sentience of wild animals in international law: Yann PRISNER-LEVYNE (Research Fellow at the Max Planck Foundation, Germany)

The Walloon Animal Welfare Code: what consequences for animal protection? François GLANSDORFF (Lawyer at the Brussels Bar)

CONCLUDING REMARKS, by Aloïse QUESNE (Associate Professor in Private Law, Paris-Saclay University, Evry)

This conclusion was filmed within the framework of the international colloquium “Animal sentience: legal approaches and transdisciplinary issues”, supported by the MRSH, organized by Aloïse QUESNE, Associate Professor in private law, under the aegis of the Normandy Chair for Peace, with the support of the Demolombe Institute, Caen la Mer and the University of Caen Normandy. The event was placed under the high patronage of Jean-Paul COSTA, President of the René Cassin Foundation, Honorary State Counselor and former President of the European Court of Human Rights.

This conference, the first of its kind in Normandy, had as its objectives to question the meaning and definition of the notion of animal sentience and to reflect on the implementation of innovative legal mechanisms intended for a better protection of the animal.