Studi e ricerche

L’animale come individuo nel discorso costituzionale italiano ed europeo

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Abstract

The 2022 reform of the Italian Constitution, introducing the «protection of animals» into Article 9, marks a turning point in the legal framing of the human-animal relationship. This paper situates the reform within the broader European trend of ‘animal constitutionalisation’, highlighting the emergence of a paradigm that transcends the traditional subordination of animals to the environmental sphere, and instead acknowledges their autonomous legal significance as sentient beings. This shift opens new, still unexplored, paths – especially in balancing competing interests.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Presentato: 24 Luglio 2025 | Accettato: 26 Agosto 2025 | Pubblicato 18 Dicembre 2025 | Lingua: it

Keywords Animal welfare • Animal law • 9 Italian Constitution • Animal constitutionalisation • Sentient beings • Legal status of animals • Art

Copyright © 2025 Silvia Zanini. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


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