The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals

In medieval and early modern Europe, animals faced real trials, real verdicts, and real executions. This landmark work documents one of history's most curious legal phenomena: the prosecution of animals as criminal defendants. From pigs hanged for killing children to rats excommunicated for devouring crops, courts across Europe treated beasts as moral actors capable of wrongdoing, and deserving of justice. E.P. Evans uncovers the legal reasoning behind these proceedings, examining how scholars twisted medieval jurisprudence to accommodate the belief that creatures could commit sins, break contracts, and defy divine order. He details the famous case of Bartholomew Chassenée, the 16th-century jurist who built his reputation defending rats accused of destroying vineyards, arguing they could not be penalized because they had not been properly summoned to court. The work ultimately probes something deeper: what these strange trials reveal about how societies construct concepts of guilt, responsibility, and the boundaries of the legal person.