Center for the Expansion of Fundamental Rights
Encyclopedia
The Center for the Expansion of Fundamental Rights (CEFR) is an American animal rights
nonprofit organization that seeks to extend the fundamental common law rights of liberty
and equality to such non-human animals as apes, cetaceans, elephants, parrots, and others through litigation and public education. Its long-term "Nonhuman Rights Project," supported by such organizations as the Animal Legal Defense Fund and the Animal Welfare Trust, is intended to gain fundamental common law rights for nonhuman animals through litigation in the most appropriate common law jurisdiction, which is being determined through intensive research by lawyers, law students, and law professors on the relevant law of common law jurisdictions around the world, including all of the fifty states that make up the United States, as well the attitudes of the judges who sit on their high courts.
CEFR was established in 1995 by Steven M. Wise
, who has taught "Animal Rights Law" at Harvard Law School
,, Lewis and Clark Law School, Vermont Law School, St. Thomas Law School, John Marshall Law School, and in the Animals and Public Policy Program at the Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine. It is presently headquartered in Coral Springs, Florida.
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
nonprofit organization that seeks to extend the fundamental common law rights of liberty
Liberty
Liberty is a moral and political principle, or Right, that identifies the condition in which human beings are able to govern themselves, to behave according to their own free will, and take responsibility for their actions...
and equality to such non-human animals as apes, cetaceans, elephants, parrots, and others through litigation and public education. Its long-term "Nonhuman Rights Project," supported by such organizations as the Animal Legal Defense Fund and the Animal Welfare Trust, is intended to gain fundamental common law rights for nonhuman animals through litigation in the most appropriate common law jurisdiction, which is being determined through intensive research by lawyers, law students, and law professors on the relevant law of common law jurisdictions around the world, including all of the fifty states that make up the United States, as well the attitudes of the judges who sit on their high courts.
CEFR was established in 1995 by Steven M. Wise
Steven M. Wise
Steven M. Wise is an American legal scholar who specializes in animal protection issues, primatology, and animal intelligence. He teaches animal rights law at Harvard Law School, Vermont Law School, John Marshall Law School, Lewis & Clark Law School, and Tufts University School of Veterinary...
, who has taught "Animal Rights Law" at Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
,, Lewis and Clark Law School, Vermont Law School, St. Thomas Law School, John Marshall Law School, and in the Animals and Public Policy Program at the Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine. It is presently headquartered in Coral Springs, Florida.
Further reading
- Center for the Expansion of Fundamental Rights.
- The Chimpanzee Collaboratory
- Steven M. Wise, Rattling the Cage - Toward Legal Rights for Animals, Perseus Publishing, 2000.
- Steven M. Wise, Drawing the Line - Science and the Case for Animal Rights, Perseus Publishing, 2005.
- Wise, Steven M.Steven M. WiseSteven M. Wise is an American legal scholar who specializes in animal protection issues, primatology, and animal intelligence. He teaches animal rights law at Harvard Law School, Vermont Law School, John Marshall Law School, Lewis & Clark Law School, and Tufts University School of Veterinary...
Though the Heavens May Fall: The Landmark Trial That Led to the End of Human Slavery, Da Capo Press, 2005. - Steven M. Wise, An American Trilogy - Death, Slavery and Dominion Along the Banks of the Cape Fear River, Da Capo Press, 2009