1. In the middle ages, animals could be tried in courts for criminal offenses
Our final item may well be the stupidest of our weird laws. Across Europe in the middle ages, people sometimes tried animals in court. Small animals, such as mice and insects, got ecclesiastical trials for destroying grain or damaging churches. Such small fry usually got excommunicated. Larger creatures like pigs and horses faced secular prosecution for injury or murder and usually got a death sentence. One man in France, whose pig killed a young child, got convicted of negligence, but the animal was hanged for murder. Though we treat animals better these days, we thankfully don’t treat them this much like humans!
Where did we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
My London News – The Remarkable Reason Why The Queen Owns All Of The Swans In England
National Geographic Channel – Wacky Texas Laws: Guess Which of These 4 Are Real
Library of Congress – Odd Laws of the United Kingdom
Slater Gordon Lawyers – 14 Of The Most Obscure Australian Laws You’ve Never Heard Of
USA Today – Weirdest Laws Passed In Every State
The Connexion France – Women Wearing Trousers Was Illegal In France Until 2013
AEON – Why The Trial By Ordeal Was Actually An Effective Test Of Guilt
JSTOR Daily – When Societies Put Animals on Trial
Medium – 10 Animals That Were Put on Trial
Cawthorne, Nigel. The Strange Laws of Old England. London: Piatkus, 2004.
Davies, Lizzie. “French Woman Marries Dead Partner”. The Guardian, November 17, 2009.
