While it may be unusual in modern times for animals to avail themselves of our justice system, it wasn't always so. Thanks to one of our editors, we found this 1906 tome, "The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals," by E.P. Evans. The book, which takes itself very seriously, explains that animal trials were common in the Middle Ages.

We were struck by the due process afforded some field mice in a 1519 case in Italy described in the book.

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