Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-07-09

to Legal Processes.
The progress Of the world from the
crudeness Of the past, says the Springfield
Republican, is, perhaps, in no particular
more manifest than in legal proceedings.
l do not refer to the s'triaS by ordeaI.v by
poisoned water, or by the duello-for
which some apology may be found in the
faith Of the times that the Deity is so re-
gardful Of the maintenance Of the truth as
to be willing at the demand OF crises to
perform miracles in its behalf. We NAV
pity such credulity now; but a sense Of
the ridiculous is awakened when we read
that, four or five centuries ago, brute
animals were made subjects of legal pro-
cess, and treated by courts of justice as
amenable TO sentence and Judgment
equally with their biped owners. They
were liable to arrest as responsible for
misdemeanors and crimes. imprisoned.
and held for trial. On set days they were
arraigned, formal indictment was read
in their hearing, and their cases pleaded
by the public prosecutor and a defending
lawyer. If the verdict were against the
animal, sentence Of death was passed
upon the culprit with all solemnitv and
executed yariously, the condemned being
sometimes clad as human beings. In the
ancient law books of Europe may be
read accounts of the trials OF swine.
bulls, horses and other beasts for MUIR
der. 1t gives in compact form the tenor
Of legal decisions concerning important
questions of almost daily occurrence
somewhere and Of universal concern.
In those early days of Jurisprudence
ecclesiastical courts held Jurisdiction
over a certain class Of cases, and their
decisions were no less absurd than those
Of the civil courts. For example, rats. as
a race, were in one instance cited before
an ecclesiastical tribunal for destroying
the grain ola certain region, The learned
counsel assigned for their defense MAIN
tanned that his clients desired to emigrate
from the country, but were prevented by
the multitude of cats lying in wait for
them; that necessity compelled them to
eat while they remained, and so the barley
suffered. The decision of the court was
in their favor. In two other countries
the Spanish flies and weevils were re-
spectiYely prosecuted, and their lawyers
endeaYOred to forestall condemnation by
petitioning that distant region might be
assigned them, to which they might be
warned 10 retire. The case was pending
so long in the 'glorious uncertainties Of
the law" that cold weather removed it
from court by destroying the defendants
before decision was reached. Do we
mere uuu an explanation OF q pracLlce,
still continued in this year of grace 1884,
Of warning rats off premises by a writing
to that effect laid in some of their ruins!
Abbott mentions case in Brazil of legal
proceedings against swarm of ants, and
even so late as the settlement of Canada,
turtle doves were communicated for
mischief. He partially accounts for this
seeming boys play and nonsense by the
vague belief, then floating in benighted
world, in the TRANSPORTATION of souls,
which claimed for the lower animals
similar treatment as was due to human
beings, lest injustice be unwittingly done
to the souls of poor wretches, once in
human form, which had been compelled
to sojOurn for a time in bestial and even
lower shapes until their final disposal.
Strange as it may seem, this opinion was
held by Louis Bonard, French gentleman
in New York, the disposition of whose
fortune by will on his death in 1871 was
directed by his peculiar belief to placing
the Society for the Prevention of Cruely to
Animals on an independent monetary
fOOfinO