Monday, August 18, 2008

Important New Publication: Stanford Journal of Animal Law and Policy

ISAR is pleased to note the advent of a new publication devoted not only to the legal aspects of animal law, but to the inseparable policy aspects as well.

There are several reasons we welcome this new publication.

The Journal is a student effort, once again demonstrating that there are those in the younger generation who take very seriously the wellbeing of animals.

As ISAR has made plain in its recently published monograph "The Policy, Law and Morality of Mandatory Spay/Neuter"
(http://isaronline.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Mandatory_Spay_Neuter_Monograph.pdf),
before the law can be used on behalf of animals it is first indispensably necessary that core policy issues be resolved. Once they are, the legal issues are much easier to deal with.

In a radical departure from almost all the traditional journal and law review scholarship which has been published in written form for well over a century, the Stanford Journal of Animal Law and Policy is an online publication. The significance of this cannot be overemphasized. Not only are the Journal’s production costs virtually non-existent—no printing, binding, mailing, circulation, etc.—but the scope of potential readers is incalculable. Literally countless potential readers can simply access https://journals.law.stanford.edu/stanford-journal-animal-law-policy and there read and/or print any or all of the articles.

Lastly, the Journal’s choice of articles for its inaugural issue suggests that the editors have a wide ranging perspective on the subject of animal law and policy. The first of four articles is “The History of Animal Law, Part I (1972-1987), by Joyce Tischler, Co-Founder and General Counsel of the Animal Legal Defense Fund—and now de facto historian of the animal law movement. This article is essential reading for every person interested in how the movement began and its founders.

The other articles—human-animal hybridization, stem cells and animal advocates, and a lengthy book review—are sure to contribute to the ongoing debate about animal law and policy.

Subscription to the Journal is free, and one can sign up on line.

ISAR strongly recommends that its supporters do so.