Animal rights activists will renew their battle this week to prove a chimpanzee is a 'person' in the eyes of the law.

The main player in the landmark case is a little different from most - he is Tommy, a 26-year-old former circus chimp who allegedly lives in a cage on a trailer park in New York state.

This week judges will hear how the self-knowledge, memory and emotions that make Tommy so much like humans should give him the same fundamental rights we enjoy.

I wanna be like you: Animal rights activists are renewing their battle to prove Tommy (pictured) is a 'person'

The case is being led by activists for the Nonhuman Rights Project, whose leaders include the renowned British primate expert Jane Goodall.

They are suing the animal's owner and have submitted a 65-page document to New York's Appeals Court insisting Tommy is granted 'personhood'.

They say that would grant the animal a 'right over his own body' and allow them to move him to a sanctuary.

Natalie Prosin, executive director of the Nonhuman Rights Project, told MailOnline: 'It hasn't been tried before so our case is unique.

'It's the first time any organisation has tried to get actual legal rights for any non-humans - under U.S. law animals count as things, not people.

Big name: The plans are backed by renowned British primate expert Dr Jane Goodall (pictured in 1974)

'There are animal protection laws but that's not the same as giving rights to animals. At the moment they're just the same as a table or a chair.'

She insisted being a person under the law was 'not the same as human rights'.

'The legal term "legal person" is not synonymous with human beings', she said. 'Corporations can be legal persons in the U.S.

'What we're trying to do is have the court grant legal person rights so our chimpanzee plaintiff can enjoy one simple human right.

Jane Goodall is a director of the project. Another said Tommy was 'the same as a table or a chair'

'The last time we saw him he was in a cage in a shed on a trailer park. He basically lives in solitary confinement.'

The campaigners face an uphill struggle. Tommy's owner has previously hit back at the case, saying the animal is perfectly well cared-for.

And the case was previously knocked down by a lower court, which rejected four bids for 'body liberty' - for Tommy and three other chimps, Kiko, Hercules and Leo.

Ms Prosin added: 'If we lose, we won't stop. We will appeal to New York's highest court.'

The group chose a chimpanzee because the animals are among our closest relatives in the natural kingdom, sharing more than 90 per cent of DNA with humans.

But if they win the case on Wednesday, their ambitions go beyond chimpanzees - and they want to create 'person rights' for other animals species by species.

The campaigners' dossier contains references to reams of studies which establish how similar chimpanzees are to their human relatives.

They add: 'New York common liberty and equality principles compel this Court to recognise Tommy's personhood and fundamental right to bodily integrity.'

The case has echoes of the so-called 'monkey selfie', which made headlines when photographer David Slater insisted he owned a picture taken by an ape on his camera while he was on a shoot.

U.S. copyright authorities felt differently - and said the photograph was anyone's to use for free.

They did, however, stop short of granting the monkey the copyright.