Animal Welfare as a Constitutional Value: The Debate in Comparative Law and the Emerging Role of Cultivated Meat

The chapter examines the process of legal recognition in the protection of animals, with a particular focus on constitutional law. After a brief analysis of comparative constitutional jurisprudence, especially regarding the potential to grant rights to animals, the various approaches to animal rights are explored. Specifically, the welfarist and dignitarian approaches are discussed, with a specific focus on their relevance to the current debate over cultivated meat and their implications for ani mal rights. The potential impact of cultivated meat in challenging traditional food systems and prompting a re-evaluation of the ethics surrounding animal exploitation and animal welfare is considered