TC – Cases No. 1334/2024, 195/2024, and Case No. 339/2024; Ruling No. 478/2024; Ruling No. 479/2024; and Ruling No. 480/2024
On June 20, 2024, the Constitutional Court addressed the protection of companion animal rights once again.
Through Rulings, No. 478/2024, No. 479/2024, and No. 480/2024, the 3rd Section of the Constitutional Court, in concrete review, indicated that the criminal provision defining the crime of abandonment of companion animals is not unconstitutional.
The matter concerns the alleged unconstitutionality of Article 388(1) of the Penal Code, as amended by Law No. 39/2020 of August 18, for violating Articles 18(2), 27, and 29 of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic (CRP).
The Constitutional Court also addressed a related issue in January 2024, in Ruling No. 70/2024, where it found the provision concerning the mistreatment of companion animals in Article 387(3) of the Penal Code, as amended by Law No. 39/2020, to be unconstitutional.
The constitutionally protected legal interests include "life," the "nature of animals as sentient living beings," their "well-being," and "dignity."
The Court noted that the negative ruling on the unconstitutionality of the provision regarding the mistreatment of companion animals (Ruling No. 70/2024) fully extends to the provision concerning the abandonment of companion animals.
Furthermore, the final decision stated in both rulings regarding the underlying criminal matter was to "not rule the incriminating provision in Article 388(1) of the Penal Code, as amended by Law No. 39/2020, to be unconstitutional."
In all rulings – No. 478/2024, No. 479/2024, and No. 480/2024 – there was a dissenting opinion from Counselor Afonso Patrão, who pointed out the indeterminacy of the concepts of "abandonment," "duty of care," and "care owed" to companion animals.
Moreover, the Counselor noted that the provision could also be unconstitutional "due to violations of the principles of proportionality and the necessity of penal protection (Article 18(2) of the Constitution)," highlighting that "the legislator established a higher criminal protection for the abandonment of companion animals than for the abandonment of persons (Article 138 of the Penal Code)."
Although there were significant divergences among the Counselors in the judgments seen in 2024, the trend seems to move towards endorsing the norms protecting the life and integrity of animals, criminalizing behaviours that affect such legal interests.
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The full text of the ruling is available here, here and here.
