Nonhuman rights and climate change: foundations in early European natural justice

Abstract

This thesis presents an historical survey of nonhuman rights, procedures and legal ethics in early western law. Evidence from the Roman and medieval periods show that early Western societies had a more connected and inclusive understanding of humans and things (res) in methods of social organisation. The legal evidence examined in this thesis shows that this inclusivity of nonhuman interests is reflected in both the jurisprudence and legal instruments of both periods. Early jurisprudence included nonhumans in ideas of justice, in their own right. This meant that nonhuman interests could be considered independently of human interests. Evidence shows that this understanding in jurisprudence also underpinned the development of legal instruments, and due process in court, that allowed for nonhuman representation, trial and punishment. This sets out an important precedent in Western law for emerging theory and practice in the fields of environmental law and climate governance.