Law and Veganism

Law and Veganism explores the rights of vegans and how vegans can be protected from discrimination. Framed in a legal and socio-political context, this book will appeal to the broadest range of legal practitioners and legal and critical scholars alike.

In our complex, consumerist societies, the intricacy of personal interactions and the number of goods and products available often prevents us from direct knowledge of what lies ‘behind’ food behaviors, ingredients, and the origins of the modern food and agriculture supply chain. Over the last decade or so, scholars, lawyers and engaged lay vegans have had many discussions about vegan rights and discrimination as issues intrinsic to animal rights, but the final frontier remains intact: the direct concerns of other animals. To give effect to the rights of animals, we must recognize and defend the human right—or duty, as many uphold-- to care about them.

Including contributors from Australia, the United States, Germany, Italy, France, Canada, Portugal, and the United Kingdom, this book explores the rights of vegans and how vegans can be protected from discrimination. Using an international socio-legal lens, the contributors discuss constitutional issues, vegan legal cases, the concept of protection for vegan ‘belief’ in human rights and equality law, the legal requirement to provide vegan food, animal agriculture and plant-based, vegan food in the context of the human right to food, and the rights of vegans in education and in health care. This book will be of interest to practicing lawyers, legal and critical legal scholars, scholars of vegan, and critical animal studies, and commentors on socio-political issues alike.

Chapter 1. Veganism and the Law in Australia: Is Discrimination against Ethical Vegans Unlawful? by Angela Radich

Chapter 2. A Single Black Bean: Discrimination and the Protection of Ethical Vegans in Canada by Krystal-Anne Roussel and Camille Labchuk

Chapter 3. Vegetarian and Vegan Litigation in the United States by Adam P. Karp

Chapter 4. Vegan Legal Issues in Germany by Ralf Müller-Amenitsch

Chapter 5. Veganism and Law in Italy by Carlo Prisco

Chapter 6. The Protection of Vegans in Portugal: Law and Progress by Nuno Alvim

Chapter 7. Animal Agriculture, the Right to Food and Vegan Dietary Solutions by Joe Wills

Chapter 8. The Growth of Veganism in France: Law and Current Challenges by Marie Laffineur-Pauchet

Chapter 9. Veganism as a Protected Belief under United Kingdom Human Rights and Equality Law by Matthew Overton

Chapter 10. Veganism, Law and Education in the United Kingdom by Jeanette Rowley and Edie Bowles

Chapter 11. Treatment for Disordered Eating in England: Balancing Vegan Rights and Treatment Requirements by Jade Elliott-Archer

Chapter 12. The Confirmation of Ethical Veganism as a Protected Philosophical Belief in Great Britain: A Personal Account of Triumph by Jordi Casamitjana

Afterword. A Vegan Citizen's Struggle to Change the Law by Sorin Ionescu