While it may be unusual in modern times for animals to avail themselves of our justice system, it wasn’t always so. Thanks to one of our editors, we found this 1906 tome, “The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals,” by E.P. Evans. The book, which takes itself very seriously, explains that animal trials were common in the Middle Ages.
We were struck by the due process afforded some field mice in a 1519 case in Italy described in the book.
The community of Stelvio commenced criminal proceedings against field mice accused of damaging crops by burrowing.
A man named Hans Grinebner was appointed to defend the mice. At trial, a long list of witnesses testified that the damage wrought by the mice prevented them from paying their rent. Mr. Grinebner “urged in favour of his clients the many benefits which they conferred upon the community, and especially upon the agricultural class by destroying noxious insects and larvae and by stirring up and enriching the soil,” according to the article.
Mr. Grinebner also argued that, should the mice be sentenced “to depart,” that they be given safe passage from dogs, cats or other foe. The judge, a rather decent man, apparently, exiled the male adult mice immediately but gave young and pregnant mice 14 days to pack up and leave. Seriously.
We were also directed to this entry at libraryindex.com on the “History of Human-Animal Interaction: The Medieval Period.”
Pigs, apparently, were frequent targets of the medieval justice system, probably because farmers allowed them to roam free.
In a case in 1386, a pig accused of murdering an infant was convicted by a French court and sentenced to hang. Her piglets were charged with being accessories but were acquitted. The court found they were victims of their mother’s bad example.