mikewot

NY court asked to give chimpanzee 'legal person' status:

A US animal rights group is calling on a New York court to recognise a chimpanzee as a legal person, in what is believed to be a legal first.
The Nonhuman Rights Project wants a chimp named Tommy to be granted "legal personhood" and thus entitled to the "fundamental right of bodily liberty".
The group is planning to file the same lawsuit on behalf of three other chimps across New York this week.
It wants the four to be released from their captivity.

The lawsuit invokes the common law writ of habeas corpus, the right to challenge unlawful detention.
The group says it is dedicated to changing the common law status of species considered autonomous, and could eventually file lawsuits on behalf of gorillas, orangutans, whales, dolphins and elephants.


They obviously have absolutely nothing better to do with their time

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25211859

Ethos83

Oh, not necessarily so.

There's animal rights groups in the UK who'd love to do the same thing....

scrubbedexpat141

Awesome.

Imagine if they did some work to help animals in parts of the world where they are truly neglected, abused and killed.

(NB: They might well do the above, but pissing money into a law suit for this is a pathetic waste of their resources and that of the government / parties fighting it)

Boomhauer

The Kiwis were trying as far back as 1999 to grant human rights to Apes .

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/16/sc...es-rights.html

Irishbeekeeper

so they are ok with apes having the right to challenge detention but they dont care about the hundreds illegally detained in Gitmo and other unnamed locations?

shiva

Gitmo is the least of issues

For profit prisons and incentivised judges. Now there's a ****ing disaster

Meow

How do you get to that conclusion?

The ideas are not mutually exclusive.

Bahtatboy

So birds aren't autonomous? Or fish, earthworms, fleas, hippos or duck-billed platypii? ****ing nutters.

Irishbeekeeper

I am not sure I understand what you meant by mutually exclusive, did you mean how can I compare the one and the other?

But from what I understand
a. there is a chimp who is living in a confined space and cannot answer for himself but someone wants to take him out of there and free him, on the basis that he has a "legal personhood" and thus entitled to the "fundamental right of bodily liberty".
b. there are humans living in confined spaces and CAN answer for themselves, most of them havent had a legal representation yet and its been years atleast since they were given a trial but they are not allowed "legal personhood" and thus are not entitled to the "fundamental right of bodily liberty"

The Dean

There are hundreds of apes in Gitmo??

Millhouse

Not necessarily. A "legal person" can include companies and not natural persons. Companies are held to different standards than real people.

scrubbedexpat141

If you were a company, which company would you be and why?

I'd like to think I'm a Dunhill type, classic yet modern, tasteful but attainable, restricted to the masses, sometimes aloof but ultimately British and cool.

In reality, I'd probably be Pepsi. Second favourite, not enjoyed by most people, rejected very often, and not as cool / good / nice as I think I am.

Millhouse

Pedigree Chum. Meaty and liked by old dogs.

scrubbedexpat141

No offence, but meaty? Really?

Millhouse

There isn't much meat in a can of dog food.