The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals

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.CONTENTSIntroduction1. Bugs and Beasts before the Law2. Mediæval and Modern PenologyAppendixBibliographyIndex