Note 6 — Chapter I · THE PRINCIPLE OF ANIMALS’ RIGHTS.

Professor Ritchie contends in his “Natural Rights” that domestic animals have not been granted rights in English law. “Because a work of art, or some ancient monument, is protected by law from injury, do we speak of the rights of pictures or stones?” But the distinction is obvious—works of art are protected only as property, domestic animals as sentient beings, whether owned or unowned.