A fascinating account of how the law determines or dismantles identity and personhood Abused dogs, prisoners tortured in Guantánamo and supermax facilities, or slaves killed by the state—all are deprived of personhood through legal acts. Such deprivations have recurred throughout history, and the law sustains these terrors and banishments even as it upholds the civil order. Examining such troubling cases, The Law Is a White Dog tackles key societal questions: How does the law construct our identities? How do its rules and sanctions make or unmake persons? And how do the supposedly rational claims of the law define marginal entities, both natural and supernatural, including ghosts, dogs, slaves, terrorist suspects, and felons? Reading the language, allusions, and symbols of legal discourse, and bridging distinctions between the human and nonhuman, Colin Dayan looks at how the law disfigures individuals and animals, and how slavery, punishment, and torture create unforeseen effects in our daily lives. Moving seamlessly across genres and disciplines, Dayan considers legal practices and spiritual beliefs from medieval England, the North American colonies, and the Caribbean that have survived in our legal discourse, and she explores the civil deaths of felons and slaves through lawful repression. Tracing the legacy of slavery in the United States in the structures of the contemporary American prison system and in the administrative detention of ghostly supermax facilities, she also demonstrates how contemporary jurisprudence regarding cruel and unusual punishment prepared the way for abuses in Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo. Using conventional historical and legal sources to answer unconventional questions, The Law Is a White Dog illuminates stark truths about civil society's ability to marginalize, exclude, and dehumanize.

Dogs may be man's best friend, but they can also provoke legal trouble. Poodle-owner Favre (Detroit School of Law, Michigan State U.) and animal behaviorist Borchelt canvass animal legal issues primarily for lawyers but also for other interested parties. Focusing mainly on cases from 1960 to the present, they discuss: classifying animals as wild or domestic, animal ownership rights, the development of anti-cruelty laws, harm caused by animals (and why canids bite), state and local regulation, veterinarian malpractice, and issues in the investigation and evaluation of serious dog attacks. Includes a table of cases cited. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

This handbook draws together into one volume the large and diverse body of law relating to dogs and their activities.

America's canine population is governed by many things: the nose, the stomach -- and the law. It is essential that dog owners and their neighbors know the ins and outs of various dog-related laws; including those regarding: § biting and barking § veterinarians § leash requirements § travel § landlords § wills § guide dogs § pit bulls § cruelty § and more.The 5th edition provides the latest dog laws in all 50 states, and covers the rights of people who need trained service dogs, protections given to those who buy expensive puppies in pet stores and even providing for pets in a trust.

This well-written and informative book has become the standard on the uses and laws regarding therapy and service dogs. With the expansion of new service dog types, a greater complexity with regard to service animal laws and regulations and the interpretation of these by the courts has developed. This book carefully examines these complexities at both the state and federal levels. In addition, the expanded use of therapy dogs in facilities and institutions has brought with it a paradigm shift in society's acceptance and acknowledgment of the canine capacity to contribute in meaningful ways to.the lives of ill and institutionalized persons.--From publisher.