The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-07-06
AyIMaLs WERE MALEFAcr0Rs,
And Were Tried In Court, and. 1T Convict
 ed, Put to Cruel Death.

ed, Put to Cruel Death.
 lProm the New York Sum- | Animals were prosecuted in courts of justice between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries for injuries by
 them to human beings or private prop erty." said lawyer in speaking of the curosities of ancient legal procedure and laws. and were subjected In duN form to trial. judgment and sentence the latter often that of death in some cruel manner. When the animal was capable Of physical seizure it was for mnlly arrested and brought before court, and then imprisoned in the or dinnry prison of the place. The public prosecutor prepared a formal accusa- tion. Witnesses were then examined and their dispositions taken as to the truth of the charge. If the charge against the accused beast was sus- tained, and conviction followed. the court solemnly pronounced sentence upon the culprit, which, if capital case, was followed by public execu- ton, with great formality. the con demned animal being sometimes dressed in. the garb of men. The mode of death was by burning. hanging by the legs. mutilation or maiming, &C., cording to the gravity of the offence for which punishment was to be inilict- ed
 Tt seems SO ridiculous now, that If | the facts were not spread on the offi- cial records of the courts that took cognlzance of the cases 1t would not be believed by any one to-day that in France in the latter part of the six teenth century--1572-sevent hogs were. tried, convicted and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, the crime alleged against them being the mutilation and devouring of infants in their cradles. Still, when one stops to ponder over what must have been the economical condition of the time that | the association of swine and sleeping babes was so close that the latter be- came easy food for the former, it may not need the court records to testify to the peculiar relations of dumb beasts to the laws of that credulous age. In | 1499, near Dijon, a bull, enraged by | lad who insisted on fishing through a | field in which the animal was pastur- ing, charged upon the boy, and placed him forever beyond the pale of the an glirg brotherhood. The bull was ar rested. tried and convicted, the accusa- | tion against him being that he had flu ,tn ,o1. Irt11 14I laI nF rtA or fifteen years He was sentenced to be publicly hanged until dead, and he was. Even horses were visited with capital punishment in France for the killing or maiming of human beings.
 Tn Sardinia the law was also very rigorous against animals, and judi cial punishment was visited against all offenders except the ass. That animal, for some reason, seems to have escaped the death penalty for his offences. For the first offence one of his ears was cut off. For the second his other ear was chopped from his head, and if he was incorrigible'- and taken a third time charged with crime he was de. clared forfeit to the crown. This, at this distant day, doesn't seem to reflect much credit on the crown, for presum- ably the punishment for a third offence is greater than, that inflicted for @ first or second. In what estimation must the crown have been held in Sardinia five hundred years ago, if 1t were greater punishment for mule to be- long to it than it was to have both ears cut off? ~~. - 'F But, compared with other prosecu- tions and procedures under the law of that time, these and similar actions be- came rational and of good cause. Thus, in cases where physical seizure of the offender was impossible or inn practicable, and its appearance in court not to be had. the law handed the l Enalefactor over to the ecclesiastical authorities to be dealt with. Such of lenders were locusts, rats, flies, cater pillars, and the like of such things, which went about without the fear of the law before them, devouring the crops and pestering tke people. .Judg- ment against these offending outlaws was fiercely hurled in the shape of an- athena, and malediction. In the pros- ecution of culprits such as these legal forms were observed, and the accused WCiC oo oUI cO IllS OI assignment of counsel for their defence One of the latest cases of this kind on record is a prosecution brought against caterpil- lars in Valenoe in s1SS5. This was argued with. the greatest .solemnity, and taxed the learning of both law yers and ecclesiastics, so acute were the many points of law that were urged pro and con. The legal and ec-. clesiastical battle over the caterpillars lasted so long that when the case was closed and the court ready to pro- nounce its judgment, it was found that, the accused, having got, through with their work of deyastattpn, had disappeared from the Jurisdiction of all courts.
 "In 1510 prosecution was entered against ashorde ot rats. that were eat ing up the barley in the south of France. The. rats were defended by the great lawyer of that day, Chas- seneux He urged in behalf of his clients that there was no legal. mode of preventing them from, returning to the place whence they had come, and that there: was no way open to them where cats might, not lie in wait. Be- sides his legal points he brought many scriptural arguments to bear in favor of the rats, and he won the case. The prosecution fell, and the rats were or dered to return to their native place at once. The record does not say how the