The mules of Rome and the horses of Uttarakhand.
What can legal history do to rethink our relationship with Nature ?

This first lecture takes us from the slopes of the Himalayas, between India and Nepal, to the Clivus Capitolinus that leads to the Capitol of ancient Rome in the ^1st century BC. Different times and places, but similar problems : horses and mules pulling carts loaded with goods and passengers, raising health concerns for animals and humans alike. The law is mobilized in both cases - theUttarahkhand HighCourtand jurist Alfenus Varus - but with very different solutions.This is hardly surprising, since ideologies and values in contemporary India and the Rome of Julius Caesar are very different. Whereas in the past, patrimonial aspectswere the main consideration, today we go so far as to attribute a legal personality to the entire animal kingdom in order to better protect it. Beyond the similar facts, and beyond the different solutions, one crucial point nevertheless unites the two cases,namely the legal categories used to resolve them, in particular the notion of legal personality, which goes back to the persona of Roman law. This brings us to the heart of this year's lecture, which thisfirst session is designed to introduce.The history of law will help us to understand whether the persistence of categories that come down to us from Roman antiquity and our own tradition can help or, on the contrary, hinder the legal transition underway, which is supposed to accompany the transition towards a more balanced relationship with the world.