The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals

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The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd., 1998 - Animals - 384 pages
Can an Animal Commit a Crime? This pioneering work collects an amazing assemblage of court cases in which animals have been named as defendants--chickens, rats, field mice, bees, gnats, and (in 34 recorded instances) pigs, among others-- providing insight into such modern issues as animal rights, capital punishment, and social and criminal theory. Evans suggests an intriguing distinction between trials of specific animals or particular crimes, such as the "murder" of an infant by a pig, and trials for larger, catastrophic events, such as plagues and infestations. In the latter case, Evans suggests a parallel to witchcraft. Edward Payson Evans [1831-1917], a historian, linguist and associate of Ralph Waldo Emerson, taught at the University of Michigan before moving to Germany, where he became a specialist in Oriental languages and German literature. A prolific author, his other Animal-related books are Animal Symbolism in Art and Literature and Animal Symbolism in Ecclesiastical Architecture, both published in 1887. CONTENTS Introduction 1. Bugs and Beasts before the Law 2. Mediæval and Modern Penology Appendix Bibliography Index
 

Contents

INTRODUCTION
1
CHAPTER I
18
CHAPTER II
193
Recent change in the spirit of criminal jurisprudence
201
A De Actis Scindicorum Communitatis Sancti Julliani
259
B Traite des Monitoires avec un Plaidoyer contre
287
Allegation Replication and Judgment in the process
307
F Chronological List of Excommunications and Prose
313
G Receipt dated January 9 1386 in which the hangman
335
K Letters Patent by which Philip the Bold Duke
342
N Sentence pronounced April 18 1499 m a
352
O Sentence of death pronounced upon a bull May 161499
358
Bibliography jM 2
373

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