Animal law may be briefly defined as the statutory and case law in which the nature - legal, social or biological - of nonhuman animals is an important factor. After examining a current high profile animal issue, the live export of animals from Australia, the course looks at the context for animal law: modern and past ethics and jurisprudence on the way that humans think of and treat animals.

The course looks at the major topics in black letter law: animals as property and the implications of treating them as property; standing to represent the interests of animals; protection from cruelty; companion animal law; the liabilty of owners and keepers of animals; laws relating to agriculture; ethics, ethical guidelines and law of using animals for research; wild animals, wildlife animal and threatened species law, and game and hunting law; and the regulation of veterinarians.