tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531883518239823732.post2969677576919964080..comments2008-08-16T00:28:37.351-04:00Justin Goodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782303891018613250noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531883518239823732.post-84570836914463954362008-08-16T00:28:00.000-04:002008-08-16T00:28:00.000-04:00Unfortunately, even under the law an animal is classified as a 'chattel', the legal word for 'thing' and much of the mistreatment that is allowable at the hands of humans, in my opinion, is traceable to this misnomer in the law, including why your son's school still persists that animals are things Obviously, it would require nearly a complete overhaul of the law--property law, contract law, tort law--to change the characterization of animals as 'chattels'. But indeed, as unfortunate as it is, people own animals because they are 'chattels', can have them taken from them in legal proceedings because they are things, can sell them because they are things, ad naseum. Being an attorney, I have struggled with this characterization for some time and cannot come up with a good way to eliminate it short of societal changing the way it thinks about animals. But that then creates a circular solution.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com