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Show COURT TRIALO OF ANIMALS. In Olden Times They Were Arraigned Before Justices. The decision of tho southwestern police court (London) magistrate, that a monkey may uso tho pavement If ho causes no obstruction, reminds us that, down to n comparatively lato period pe-riod on tho continent, tho lower animals ani-mals were considered nmcnnblo to tho laws. Domestic animals wore tried In tho conitiiin criminal courts; wild animals fell andar eccleslnstlcal Jurisdiction. Ju-risdiction. French antiquaries havo discovered tho records of 92 processes proc-esses against animals, conducted with tho strictest formalities of Justice, from 1120 to 1740, when tho last trial and execution, that of n cow, took place. Thus, thero was a lawsuit that lasted from H45 to 1487 between tho Inhabitants of St. Julten and a kind of beetle, nnd nt Lavlgny, In 1467, n sow and hor bIx young ones wero tried on n chargo of having murdered mur-dered nnd partly eaten a child. Tho sow was fo-.id guilty and condemned to death, but tho little pigs wero acquitted ac-quitted on account of their youth, tho bad example of their mother, nnd tho absenco of direct proof against them London Chronicle. |
