In order to confer a legally recognized right to a being or an entity, we must first grant it a legal subjectivity. Legal subjectivity, and at the same time the concept of rights, is the fruit of human creativity and its regulation of the world. With human development in the course of history, more and more disenfranchised subjects (slaves, women ...) began to gain rights that can be legally enforced. By the 20th century, there were no particular doubts that rights could only be human rights. Over time, however, doubts arise as to the self-evidentness of the latter, and humans begin to discover that there are argued reasons for the framework of legally recognized rights to expand, and not being limited to mere people. Animals and plants also have interests that are more than justifiably possible to protect legally. Despite the increasing incentives of NGOs and political trends, the law remains fairly rigid; it is still difficult for legislators to accept widespread theories about the rights of other beings, even if more substantiated arguments speak in favor of these theories. Positive law and legal theory predominantly speak about the protection, safeguarding and preservation of animal and plant life - without the explicit naming of "right" and "legal subjectivity" in the context of animals and plants, which is still written in a rather anthropocentric spirit. However, pessimism in this very important topic for modern times is ultimately not necessary, since legislation or legislators by regulating these areas, in some ways at least, indirectly recognize the rights of animals and plants. In modern times, however, we can expect and are receiving more unequivocal recognition of rights to other entities around us.
|