This course presents a survey of the historical and current status of this rapidly developing specialty. In brief, animal law encompasses all areas of the law in which the nature - legal, social or biological - of nonhuman animals is an important factor. This is not an animal rights course, although certainly the question of what rights animals should or do have is raised as a natural consequence of studying the materials. Rather, it is an objective and logical specialization of a challenging area - one with a growing number of cases and laws, increasing public and practical interest, and significantly different historical, legal and philosophical foundations than most other courses.