Intensive Course: Rights Theory and Rights of Nature

Note: The add/drop date for this course is Monday, January 4 at 10:00 PM.

Course Location: Please see the "Intensive Course Schedule" under Schedules and Timetables (http://www.law.utoronto.ca/academic-programs/schedules).

Note: Attendance at intensive courses is mandatory for the duration of the course.

Around the globe—especially in the Global South—there are growing movements towards, and successful codifications of, the “rights of nature.” In 2008, Ecuador included rights of nature in its constitution, and Bolivia passed a set of laws recognizing the rights of nature. In 2014, New Zealand/ Aotearoa granted legal personhood to the Whanganui River. Since then, Uganda passed a law recognizing nature’s right to exist, persist, regenerate, and evolve. The High Court of Bangladesh recognized the Turag River as a living entity with legal rights; a court in Peru ruled similarly with respect to the Marañón River. Around the world, scores of smaller jurisdictions have passed provisions along similar lines.

This course aims to put this legal movement in conversation with contemporary philosophical theories about rights. Rights of Nature may appear deeply puzzling to rights theorists. Contemporary theories of rights have typically been divided between “interest theories” and “will theories.” But, unless one adopts some questionable characterizations, nature does not have “interests” nor does it have a “will.” Neither do rivers. The hallmarks of leading rights theories are completely missing in these cases. Many people seem to find rights of nature not only conceptually coherent but critically important. How can we make sense of that? The puzzle looks even more stark when one compares the status of nonhuman animals, which transparently do have interests and wills in at least some sense. If the going philosophical theories of rights are correct, why is nature getting rights before animals? What concept of rights are they using?

The course will study the recent legal developments—ranging from constitutional provisions and high court decisions to local ordinances—and the advocacy that has surrounded them. At the same time, it will also read some classic and modern work in rights theory. The aim will be to explore how to fit these two rights discourses together.