This is not a very big issue for the immediate future.
Lefties and other sentimental people for whom reality and rational thought are unimportant have been pushing for legal status for non-human animals.
While I see no prospects for this becoming a serious problem the perpetual push for Lefty theories and the slow perverse infiltration of important institutions by Lefties may create conflict. At least on this issue.
I want to foreclose this realm of debate.
Anglo-Saxon common law already deals with this issue in two robust traditions.
One, species must have the ability to represent themselves in order to have standing in our courts.
That means that gorillas can certainly have standing. If they can find a gorilla to represent them. The same is true for dolphins and dogs.
This tradition has always allowed human lawyers to represent humans who are mentally or physically deficient.
The second Anglo-Saxon common law provides that other courts can be used if those courts have reciprocal relations. This is not uncommon in international trade where a second country is used for court settlement so long as the second country recognizes the first country's courts and laws.
That means that gorillas, dolphins and dogs, can be represented in human courts when humans can be represented in the gorilla, dolphin and dog courts.
I hope that making these common law traditions visible and explicit will head off the Lefty New Age nonsense.