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Josh Gellers, PhD
July 6-7, 2023
UNSW Workshop
How should we answer the
non-human question?
1
Points of
Intervention
2
Justice
Ethics
Systems
Level
of
Abstraction
Constructs
To what extent, if any, should we
include the more-than-human
world in our legal universe?
3
Modes of Change
Status Quo
No change to existing hegemonic
institutions
Reformist
Within/revising existing hegemonic
institutions, slow
Radical
Outside/disrupting existing
hegemonic institutions, fast
4
What is a Legal Person?
Natural person v. legal person
Natural person and legal person
Entity in law that possesses different
legal personalities (Grear 2013)
Bundle of rights and duties (Kurki 2022)
5
Purpose of (Extending) Legal Personhood
Instrumental
(Pain & Pepper 2021)
Axiological
(Athens 2018)
Epistemic
(Alix 2023)
6
Problems Facing Legal Personhood
• Anthropocentrism v. bio/ecocentrism
• Dualism v. complexity
• Universalism v. relativism
• Properties v. relations
• Individualism v. holism
• Person v. rights
7
Proposals
AI
• Gradient legal
personhood
(Mocanu 2022)
• Hybrid model
(Raskulla 2023)
Animals
• Non-personal
subjects of law
(Pietrzykowski
2018)
• Quasi-
property/quasi-
personhood
(Fernandez
2019)
Nature
• Environmental
personhood
(Gordon 2018)
• Cosmic person
(Norman 2021)
Non-humans
• Multi-spectral
framework for
personhoods
(Gellers 2020)
8
Synthesis
DETERMINE THE
DESIRED MODE OF
CHANGE
01
CONSIDER THE
CONTEXT
02
IDENTIFY, ADOPT,
AND IMPLEMENT
BEST FIT APPROACH
03
9
Lingering
Questions
• Is legal personhood the best route to follow
given our objectives?
• Why don’t we just extend legal rights directly
to nature?
• Who should decide which legal rights nature
possesses?
• How can we identify the interests of nature
and translate them into concrete legal
responsibilities?
• What if bestowing legal personhood onto
nature does not yield improvements in
environmental quality or protection?
• Whither the relevance of law in the
Anthropocene?
10
Concluding
Thoughts
• No “one-size-fits-all” model, but solutions
should be local, not global
• There is a moral obligation to eliminate
obsolete binaries and cast aside the “One-
World World” (Law 2015) in favor of
“pluriversal politics” (Escobar 2020)
• Legal systems need to be equipped to de-
center human interests
• We must transition from “law as language” to
“law as lifeway” (Vargas Roncancio 2023) and
from representation to “listening-with”
(Carvalho & Riquito 2022)
• Achieving the above can only be accomplished
through radical departures from extant law
11
Contact:
(e) josh.gellers@unf.edu
(t) @JoshGellers 12
Thank you!
Questions?
Criticisms and Responses
Impossible
Unhelpful
Mistaken
Zero-Sum
“In passing the [Rights of Nature] into Ponca tribal law, for the first time we saw
our Indigenous values and rights reflected in Western law. We are not people
protecting Nature, we are Nature protecting itself. This is a powerful way to create
system change” (Camp-Horinek 2020, cited in Kaufmann & Martin 2021).
13
”If there is one characteristic shared by companies, foundations,
associations, commercial trusts, nationalities, peoples, communities,
collectives and Nature, it is the fact that none of these subjects of law
are human persons” (Estrellita Monkey Decision 2022: 27, n86).
“Rights by themselves are not a zero-sum game. The addition of a newly
recognized right does not vitiate a previously recognized right” (Schulz &
Raman 2020: 15).
“The above cases undermine previous analyses suggesting that RoN in
Ecuador are merely symbolic and unimplemented as a result of judicial
corruption and structural barriers” (Kauffman & Martin 2023: 29).
(Betaille 2019)
(Kurki 2022)
(Bryson et al. 2017)
(Tănăsescu 2020)
Ontological
Properties
Personhoods Positions/Incidents
Consciousness, Intentionality, Sentience
Autonomy, Intelligence, Rationality,
Responsibility, Will
Capacity to be a legal subject, possess
rights, endure burdens
Animism, Anthropomorphism, Facing,
Felt nearness, Kinship, Personification,
Self-realization
Relational
Legal
Moral
Psychological
Moral Agent/
Patient
Moral Duties/Sanctions
Legal Rights/Duties
Legal Privileges/No-rights
Legal Powers/Liabilities
Legal Immunities/Disabilities
Moral Immunities/No-abilities
Moral Claims/Duties
Moral Liberties/No-duties
Moral Powers/Intentions
Moral
Rights
Relational
Mechanisms
Societal need
Dignity
Conceptual Map
Legal Subject/
Object
A Multi-spectral
Framework for
Personhoods
15
Social-Relational
Social-Ecological
Analytical Keys
16
Argument from
Marginal Cases
“the point is to demand
consistency in our
thinking about animals”
(Tanner 2009: 52)
Post-Colonialism
“the racialized Mechanical
Other operates like any
other marginalized group”
(Kim 2022)
Anthropocene
“legal relations…as always
and already part of more-
than-human collectives”
(Fleurke et al. 2022)

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Legal Personhood for Nature: Purpose, Problems, and Proposals

  • 1. Josh Gellers, PhD July 6-7, 2023 UNSW Workshop
  • 2. How should we answer the non-human question? 1
  • 4. To what extent, if any, should we include the more-than-human world in our legal universe? 3
  • 5. Modes of Change Status Quo No change to existing hegemonic institutions Reformist Within/revising existing hegemonic institutions, slow Radical Outside/disrupting existing hegemonic institutions, fast 4
  • 6. What is a Legal Person? Natural person v. legal person Natural person and legal person Entity in law that possesses different legal personalities (Grear 2013) Bundle of rights and duties (Kurki 2022) 5
  • 7. Purpose of (Extending) Legal Personhood Instrumental (Pain & Pepper 2021) Axiological (Athens 2018) Epistemic (Alix 2023) 6
  • 8. Problems Facing Legal Personhood • Anthropocentrism v. bio/ecocentrism • Dualism v. complexity • Universalism v. relativism • Properties v. relations • Individualism v. holism • Person v. rights 7
  • 9. Proposals AI • Gradient legal personhood (Mocanu 2022) • Hybrid model (Raskulla 2023) Animals • Non-personal subjects of law (Pietrzykowski 2018) • Quasi- property/quasi- personhood (Fernandez 2019) Nature • Environmental personhood (Gordon 2018) • Cosmic person (Norman 2021) Non-humans • Multi-spectral framework for personhoods (Gellers 2020) 8
  • 10. Synthesis DETERMINE THE DESIRED MODE OF CHANGE 01 CONSIDER THE CONTEXT 02 IDENTIFY, ADOPT, AND IMPLEMENT BEST FIT APPROACH 03 9
  • 11. Lingering Questions • Is legal personhood the best route to follow given our objectives? • Why don’t we just extend legal rights directly to nature? • Who should decide which legal rights nature possesses? • How can we identify the interests of nature and translate them into concrete legal responsibilities? • What if bestowing legal personhood onto nature does not yield improvements in environmental quality or protection? • Whither the relevance of law in the Anthropocene? 10
  • 12. Concluding Thoughts • No “one-size-fits-all” model, but solutions should be local, not global • There is a moral obligation to eliminate obsolete binaries and cast aside the “One- World World” (Law 2015) in favor of “pluriversal politics” (Escobar 2020) • Legal systems need to be equipped to de- center human interests • We must transition from “law as language” to “law as lifeway” (Vargas Roncancio 2023) and from representation to “listening-with” (Carvalho & Riquito 2022) • Achieving the above can only be accomplished through radical departures from extant law 11
  • 14. Criticisms and Responses Impossible Unhelpful Mistaken Zero-Sum “In passing the [Rights of Nature] into Ponca tribal law, for the first time we saw our Indigenous values and rights reflected in Western law. We are not people protecting Nature, we are Nature protecting itself. This is a powerful way to create system change” (Camp-Horinek 2020, cited in Kaufmann & Martin 2021). 13 ”If there is one characteristic shared by companies, foundations, associations, commercial trusts, nationalities, peoples, communities, collectives and Nature, it is the fact that none of these subjects of law are human persons” (Estrellita Monkey Decision 2022: 27, n86). “Rights by themselves are not a zero-sum game. The addition of a newly recognized right does not vitiate a previously recognized right” (Schulz & Raman 2020: 15). “The above cases undermine previous analyses suggesting that RoN in Ecuador are merely symbolic and unimplemented as a result of judicial corruption and structural barriers” (Kauffman & Martin 2023: 29). (Betaille 2019) (Kurki 2022) (Bryson et al. 2017) (Tănăsescu 2020)
  • 15. Ontological Properties Personhoods Positions/Incidents Consciousness, Intentionality, Sentience Autonomy, Intelligence, Rationality, Responsibility, Will Capacity to be a legal subject, possess rights, endure burdens Animism, Anthropomorphism, Facing, Felt nearness, Kinship, Personification, Self-realization Relational Legal Moral Psychological Moral Agent/ Patient Moral Duties/Sanctions Legal Rights/Duties Legal Privileges/No-rights Legal Powers/Liabilities Legal Immunities/Disabilities Moral Immunities/No-abilities Moral Claims/Duties Moral Liberties/No-duties Moral Powers/Intentions Moral Rights Relational Mechanisms Societal need Dignity Conceptual Map Legal Subject/ Object
  • 17. Analytical Keys 16 Argument from Marginal Cases “the point is to demand consistency in our thinking about animals” (Tanner 2009: 52) Post-Colonialism “the racialized Mechanical Other operates like any other marginalized group” (Kim 2022) Anthropocene “legal relations…as always and already part of more- than-human collectives” (Fleurke et al. 2022)