Legal Personhood for Great Apes

Legal personhood for great apes redefines animal rights by shattering a legal barrier that has stood for 200 years, a breakthrough unmatched elsewhere on this list. Courts in Argentina and Colombia have granted habeas corpus to captive chimpanzees, with the Nonhuman Rights Project filing over 12 cases in New York alone to extend this principle to cognitively complex species. Although progress is incremental, each successful ruling challenges species-based boundaries in property law.