Senaka Weeraratna

In the name of Justice what is taught in Law Schools is a form of compartmentalized Justice totally focused on the wrongs done to one species I e. Human Species, and the manner of remedying these  wrongs. The teaching of law in law schools desensitizes the student to wrongs done to non human sentient beings and even Nature. 

The Zoo is a euphemism for an Animal Prison where those who are jailed usually for life are totally innocent of any wrong doing. If one is taught in law schools to fight for justice and to be sensitive to any wrong doing, then one cannot overlook the pain and suffering caused to Animals in Zoos. Lawyers must take a stand on Animal Protection issues.

Today in the Dehiwala Zoo imprisoned innocent animals are starving and dying without food. Except for a handful of concerned and compassionate animal lovers the rest of the community including the various opinion makers and leading professional associations are maintaining a deafening silence. It is not the membership of a species but the suffering caused to members of other species either by action or inaction by members of the human species that warrants moral attention. That is the ethos of a true civilization.

It is the humans that are accountable for the suffering of the animals in the Dehiwala Zoo. 

Legal Education must revamp its vision to be inclusive and plural in giving its attention also  to the claims and interests of non – human sentient beings. 

Justice is poorly served if  law schools ignore the flaws of Justice and Rule of Law in not being all embracing. It is time that law schools look at Dharmic concepts of Justice and Dharmic  Jurisprudence e.g. as found in Buddhism, Jainism, rather than blindly follow Abrahamic visions of Justice which are totally human centric