Public-domain ebook
by E. P. Evans
Language: en1,897 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: History - European·Law & Criminology
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #43286.
The work is a scholarly survey of a little‑known facet of legal history: the formal prosecution and execution of animals, from medieval ecclesiastical curses against rats to capital sentences handed down on pigs, bulls and even a cock that laid an egg. The opening pages catalogue an astonishing array of cases, rat trials defended by the jurist Chassenée, excommunications of locusts, the hanging of a sow for infanticide, and the burning of a horse for homicide, while interweaving theological commentary, papal formulas, and contemporary scientific explanations. The author, Edward Payson Evans, builds on two 1884 essays and a body of European research, citing primary documents such as receipts for animal executions and statutes ranging from the Constitutio Criminalis Carolina to English deodand law, thereby grounding the narrative in a wealth of archival material.
Written in a dense, nineteenth‑century academic style, the book reads like a legal‑historian’s compendium, peppered with Latin terminology and extensive footnotes. Its tone is analytical rather than sensational, appealing to readers interested in the history of law, medieval jurisprudence, or the cultural construction of criminality. Scholars of legal anthropology, historians of the Church, and anyone fascinated by the odd intersections of law, theology and animal studies will find the detailed case studies and comparative approach especially rewarding.
Criminal prosecution of rats--Chassenée appointed to defend them--Report of the trial--Chassenée employed as counsel in other cases of this kind--His dissertation on the subject-- Nature of his argument--Authorities and precedents--The withering of the fig-tree at Bethany justified and explained by Dr. Trench--Eels and blood-suckers in Lake Leman cursed by the Bishop of Lausanne with the approval of Heidelberg theologians--White bread turned black, and swallows, fish, and flies destroyed by anathema--St. Pirminius expels reptiles--Vermifugal efficacy of St. Magnus’ crosier--Papal execratories--Animals regarded by the law as lay persons, and not entitled to benefit of clergy--Methods of procedure--Jurisdiction of the courts--Records of judicial proceedings against insects--Important trial of weevils at St. …
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