The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals

ISBN: 9780571148936

出版社: Lawbook Exchange Ltd

出版年: 1998

页数: 386

内容简介

This pioneering work in English brings together 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 (the ""murder"" of an infant by a pig, for example) and trials of animals for larger, catastrophic events such as plagues and infestations. In the latter case, Evans suggests a parallel to witchcraft.