Two articles authored by members of our Centre have appeared in a special issue of Studia Iuridica — the academic journal of the University of Warsaw’s Faculty of Law and Administration — which has been dedicated entirely to the rights of nature.
In his article “Ontology of Legal Personhood,” Paweł Banaś summarizes his long-standing research into the legal personhood of non-humans (AI, non-human animals, and elements of the natural world). He operationalizes the issue and outlines various positions regarding the legal personhood of non-humans. We hope this text will serve as a starting point for any researcher interested in a topic that already poses a challenge to the entire legal system.
Meanwhile, in their article “Schrödinger’s rights of nature: The paradox of Earth jurisprudence,” Cezary Błaszczyk and Antoni Cypryjański address the question of whether “shallow rights of nature” are possible (modeled on Saskia Stucki’s concept of “shallow animal rights”) and, if so, whether one can speak of rights of nature in Poland in the context of granting legal personhood to national parks. The article is of particular interest given the initiative to introduce rights of nature into the Polish legal order by granting legal personhood to the Oder River.
Introduction by P. Banaś, C. Błaszczyk, and P. Szwedo:
https://studiaiuridica.pl/en/issues/109-vol-109/legal-personality-towards-the-rights-of-nature-editorial
Article by P. Banaś: https://studiaiuridica.pl/en/issues/109-vol-109/ontology-of-legal-personhood
Article by C. Błaszczyk and A. Cypryjański: https://studiaiuridica.pl/en/issues/109-vol-109/schrodinger-s-rights-of-nature-the-paradox-of-the-earth-jurisprudence