Legal Personhood for Animals: Has Science Made Its Case?

The use of Latin in identifying an organism's genus and species is likely familiar to scientists and zoological professionals, but a traditional legal doctrine, known as habeas corpus (meaning "you have the body") may not have obvious applicability to nonhumans in the animal kingdom. In recent years, animal rights organizations have utilized the habeas corpus doctrine as a basis to bring legal challenges on behalf of nonhuman animals to expand "legal personhood" to them. These lawsuits, which have focused on species such as nonhuman primates and elephants, seek to challenge the "confinement" of animals in zoological institutions and by private owners, much like a prisoner or other detainee.