The Principle of Proportionality : the Concept and Its Application to Animal Protection Issues such as Killing for Disease Control Purposes=「比例原則」之意涵與適用——從防疫撲殺所引發之動保爭議談起
動物倫理=Animal ethics; 動物福利=animal welfare; 疾病控制=disease control; 比例原則=principle of proportionality; 尊重生命=respect for life
摘要
In order to guarantee a constitutional democracy, the German Constitutional Court developed a concept named the "principle of proportionality" in the decades after World War II. During the 1960s the court came to the conclusion that the principle of proportionality should be respected as a general guideline for public authority. Since then it has been treated as unwritten constitutional law in Germany. This is the spirit that shaped the new German Animal Protection Act in the year 1972. Today, in dilemma-like situations the animal welfare legislation of the European Union (EU) also follows the principle of proportionality. This paper illuminates the nature of the principle and how it is applied to animal protection issues. But since the principle turns out to be a function of rationality, it can generally be used to structure deliberations about the best options. Three interacting models of people's moral sense and sense of justice are presented here in order to demonstrate this ability. In regard to the example of the killing of animals for disease control purposes, serious ethical concerns are deduced from this well-established principle.
Abstract 49 摘要 50 1. Introduction 51 2. The principle of proportionality 52 (1) The principle of necessity and the Three Rs 53 (2) The principle of proportionality in German animal welfare law 55 3. Animal Protection: Deliberations about the best option 58 (1) Empathy 58 (2) Respect 60 (3) Decision making 62 4. Application to the killing of animals for disease control purposes 65 (1) The principle of proportionality in the narrower sense 67 (2) Ethical logic 68 5. Conclusion 69 Bibliography 70 1.Books 70 2. Journals 71 3. Magazines 71 4. Electronic documents 72
