Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1892-11-03

~ bOOh Wnlch dellght all lover;
OF the curious and grotesque
~ as well as provide food for seri
Gus thought. has just appeared
at Naples under the title of "Crimina
Beasts" Its author, Signor D'Addosio
describes it as mere attempt to dea
with the subject. He prepared it with.
out assistance, and admits that it only
imperfectly covers the ground he has
outlined. Yet it presents perfectly
astounding array of facts and veracious
incidents relating to the supposed amen.
ability Of brutes to the civil law.
The reader is first reminded that the
ancient laws of the Egyptians, Persians,
Hebrews and Greeks attributed rights
and duties to animals, aud decided that
equally with men, animals were subject
to praise or blame, reward or punish
ment. For this reason severe penalties
were instituted against men who took
the life of animals, maltreated or hurt
them without reason, and equally severe
penalties were awarded to animals for
acts huItful to the lives or property of
men. Little by little these laws, which
fourished when mankind was still child
like and ingenious, fell into disuse as
the human race became aware of its i'm
mense superiority, and finally the cold
and reasoning Romans denied to animals
any rights and duties, and pronounced
them to be void of conscience or person
atty, without, however, deciding that
they were mere machines. Then came
a reaction. The Middle Ages, dis
tinguished for the predominance of i'm.
agination over reason, leapt back at
bound to superstition and barbarism,
and all rights and duties were restored
to animals, together with such response
bility that when they committed any act
hurtful to man or his works they were
summoned as criminals, and subjected
to the rigor of the law. In the six
teenth century this humanizing OF ami
mails began again to decrease, until in
the seventeenth century it entirely dis
appeared.
The curious lawsuits which were, in
the Middle Ages, SO often instituted
against members of the animal kingdom,
were sometimes penal, sometimes civil.
The former was directed against animals
that had destroyed human life, or re.
sorted to magic or diabolical works,
when the accused were put in prison,
tried, sentenced, condemned, and
executed according to all the formalities
against human criminals. The civil
suits were directed against such animals
or insects as attacked and damaged corn
fields, vineyards, orchards, meadows,
and SO on, or in any way were hurtful
to the possessions of men. When
prayers and professions had been re-
sorted 10 in vain, an appeal was made to
the local ecclesiastical judge. who cited
the destroyers to appear before him,
nominated advocates for and against.
The inhabitants of the damaged district
did the same, and trial took place with
solemnity and with all the tedious detail
and long winded argument of medieval
justice and jurlsts. The sentence gener.
ally condemned the animals or insects to
leave the invaded territory within a
given date, on pain of curses and ex-
communication, and almost always as
signed some unculhvated place where
they could retire and live as they pleased.
Often, when the creatures had been deaf
to the sentence, new trial and verdict
was undertaken to carry out the excom.
munication.