For century , an inanimate object or animal could be held creditworthy — and punished!—for devote a law-breaking . Do n’t take our word for it . Just askPlato , who wrote in one of his dialogue :
In medieval Europe , a special legal category shout thedeodandwas allow for guilty animals and inanimate object , which would be impound , forgo to “ God and Country , ” and sell to profit some noble causa . “ Over the centuries there were some stock type of fatal fortuity which frequently ensue in deodands , such as incidents involving boats , horses , houses , tree diagram , and handcart , ” Teresa SuttonwroteinThe Journal of Legal chronicle . “ Other shell were more striking , with people being torn to art object by mills , squeeze by maypoles , eat on by pigs , settle into vats of stewing ale , and strike on the promontory by casks full of wine . ”
When animals were the guilty party , the killer whale was often hanged , burn up alive , or buried live . ( Animals shamefaced of less - than - lethal crimes could be gaol in a public place . ) Incredibly , these trials were treated with the same seriousness as any other legal legal proceeding , with paid human lawyers answer as the animal ’s defense . “ There are records of proceeding against tail , beetles , Taurus the Bull , caterpillars , cocks , cows , dogs , dolphins , eel , bailiwick mice , flies , Goat , hopper , Equus caballus , insects , leeches , locusts , breakwater , strikebreaker , serpents , sheep , snails , termites , turtledove , weevil , wildcat , worm , and unspecified vermin , ” Paul Schiff Bermanwrotein theNew York University Law Review .
“ Some may shrug dismissively , draw from these curious events the conclusion that our pre - Enlightenment relatives , while act the game of constabulary , were fundamentally irrational , ” Anila SrivastavawroteinMosaic : An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal . “ In my view , however , the trials demonstrate unexpected ways of thinking about who or what the law act upon . Without losing their status as property , animals were imbue with sufficient effectual personhood to permit the jurisprudence to act upon them as it would upon similarly locate humans . ”
Put differently : Sometimes the world just did n’t make any common sense . Accidents happen . the great unwashed pass away for inexplicable reasons . In an geological era without insurance or meaningful regulations , one way to find club in the chaos was to hold wight and objects accountable for their actions . Here is a brief timeline of just a few odd trials that result .
5TH CENTURY BCE
A statue of Theagenes of Thasos , a illustrious Olympian bagger , fall andkills a man — one of Theagenes ’s sometime adversaries , who had been bring down the sculpture " every night … and flogged the bronze persona as though he were whipping Theagenes himself . " The statue is thrown into the sea as punishment .
824
A task of moles in Aosta , Italy is tried in royal court for destroying crop . An ecclesiastical judgereportedlyexcommunicates them .
1267
A washerwomanfallsinto a vat of simmering water and dies . The guilty vat isdeclareda deodand , is confiscated , and then appraised at 18 penny .
1386
According to a1917 issueof theProceedings of the American Philosophical Society , a sow in Falaise , Normandy — accused of eat baby — is dressed in “ a new courting of man ’s dress ” and hanged . Before reaching the gallows , it is attended by a train of armed man riding horseback .
1522
Rats purportedlyeatlarge amount of barleycorn in Autun , France . As thestory goes , a immature lawyer is appointed to defend the critters and successfully pushes the royal court date further as the rats , time and again , fail to show up for court of law . ( At one point , he argue that the rats failed to show because they were afraid of the local qat . )
1545
weevil arebrought to courtafter scourge vineyard in the Savoie part of France . “ presumptively , the plaintiffs had to pay for their own counsel , but the weevils had both an factor and an advocate appointed for them , ” Srivastava wrote .
1567
A sow kills a 4 - month - old girl . The royal notary of the Court of Senlis , France , condemns the squealer to be hang from a Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree .
1591
A church service bell in Uglich , Russia , rings in the demise of Tsar Ivan the Terrible ’s Logos , Dmitry , and local begin a short - lived uprising . raging official flog the bell and move out its “ tongue”—the applauder — and deport the whole spell to Siberia . ( Today , the Vanessa Bell is ondisplayat Uglich ’s Church of St. Dmitry on the Blood . )
1668
PlaywrightJean Racine ’s newfangled comedic three - act playLes Plaideurscontains scenes parodying animate being trial run . ( Specifically , a dog is tried for eating a capon . )
c. 1690s
After sting a local council fellow member in the branch , a dog in Austria is imprisoned for one year in a public marketplace .
1716
A slew of forest falls and kills a tyke . The wood is found liable and is ransomed as a deodand for 30 shillings , which are given to the child ’s Father of the Church .
1750
A distaff donkey in Vanvres , France is deport of charge of zooerasty after a local non-Christian priest attests “ to her chastity and good behavior,”wroteSrivastava . ( Nobody , however , come to the defense of her human twin , who is found hangdog . )
1827
The U.S. Supreme Court rejects a shipowner ’s title that a vessel can not be convicted of privateering . According tothe Court , “ [ t]he thing is here primarily considered as the offender , or rather the offense is tie primarily to the affair . ” A like case is made in 1844 , with Justice Joseph Storywriting , “ [ t]he vessel which commits the hostility is treated as the wrongdoer . ”
1921
In a likewise bizarre test , an American judge finds a unique style to forfeit an automobile to thestate : “ The court charge the jury to interpret a finding of fact finding the car shamed . ”
1941
In one of the first actions taken by the modern FDA , 135 packages of phony music are destroyed after a U.S. Union royal court hears the caseUnited States v. 11 ¼ Dozen Packages of Articles Labeled in part Mrs. Moffat ’s Shoo - Fly Powders for Drunkenness .
1999
A fictitious office printing machine is murdered — without trial — in the filmOffice blank space . There is much rejoicing .
