I just read somewhere that in medieval England, trials sometimes involved something called "trial by ordeal," where they'd basically make you do something dangerous or painful (like holding hot iron or dunking you in water) to see if you were innocent or guilty. If you healed quickly or survived, congrats, you're innocent. If not... well, tough luck. Pretty wild how far we've come from that to today's complicated court systems, huh? Wonder if there are other weird legal practices from history people know about...
Yeah, trial by ordeal was definitely bizarre, but have you ever heard of animal trials? Back in medieval Europe, animals could literally be put on trial for crimes. Like, pigs accused of attacking people were actually dressed up, brought into court, and sentenced. Seems ridiculous now, but it shows how deeply superstition and symbolism were woven into their legal ideas. Makes you appreciate modern courts, even with all their red tape and complications...
Yeah, animal trials were wild... I remember reading about a case where a bunch of rats were summoned to court for eating crops, but they didn't show up (obviously), and their lawyer actually argued that the summons wasn't fair because it didn't account for the rats' safety traveling to court. Imagine being that lawyer, seriously trying to defend rodents in court. Definitely makes modern legal quirks seem pretty tame by comparison.
"their lawyer actually argued that the summons wasn't fair because it didn't account for the rats' safety traveling to court."
That's honestly hilarious... but also makes me wonder: at what point did someone actually decide animals needed legal representation? Like, was there a specific event or case that started this whole trend, or did it just gradually become a thing people accepted? Legal history can be weirdly fascinating sometimes.
