Defining where the needs of contracting parties end, and where the mistreatment of animals begins is especially difficult in contract law, where protecting animals is not a basic premise. Thus, although animal law is a widely discussed topic, the position of animals under civil law has not been discussed comprehensively before. The first chapters of the book set the background for subsequent civil law considerations given that the object of a contractual obligation is an animal, and the impact this has on the conclusion, performance and consequences of non-performance of a contract. It constitutes a unique interdisciplinary and comparative work focused mainly on animals in contractual relations (e.g. sale, donation, lease, tenancy, commission, agency, safe-keeping, training contracts).

The contributions focus on succession and obligation law norms shaping the legal status of an heir and their comparison within Polish and German law systems. They analyse the impact of the instruments of contract law on the status of an heir. The adopted methodology combining the internal-national and external-comparative perspective allows the authors to present “similarities in dissimilarities” within institutions of the German and Polish succession law. The broad analyses of legal doctrine and jurisprudence can serve as a source of knowledge and points of reference for legal practitioners, courts and legislators.

This book explores the legal conception of personhood in the context of contemporary challenges, such as the status of non-human animals, human-animal biological mixtures, cyborgisation of the human body, or developing technologies based on artificial autonomic agents. It reveals the humanistic assumptions underlying the legal approach to personhood and examines the extent to which they are undermined by current and imminent scientific and technological advances. Further, the book outlines an original conception of non-personal subjecthood so as to provide adequate normative solutions for the problematic status of sentient animals and other kinds of entities. Arguably, non-personal subjects of law should be regarded as holding one right, and only one right - the right to be taken into account.

based on author's thesis (doctoral - Universitèat Basel, 2016) issued under title: The extraterritorial protection of animals: admissibility and possibilities of the application of national animal welfare standards to animals in foreign countries.