Legal proceedings were formerly instituted against vermin, who were
thus treated as if they were human beings endowed with consciences and
responsible for their actions. Prosecutions of animals were common in
France and Switzerland, with a view to protect communities from their
depredations. Thus rats and mice, and also bulls, oxen, cows, and mares;
sheep, goats, pigs, and dogs; moles, leeches, caterpillars, and various
reptiles, were liable to punishment by legal process.[507] The Roman
Catholic Church claimed full power to anathematize all animate and
inanimate things, founding its authority on the Scriptural precedents of
the malediction pronounced on the serpent in the garden of Eden, and the
cursing of the barren fig-tree by our Lord.[508] The belief in the moral
responsibility of animals was also thought to be warranted by the old
Mosaic law as declared in Genesis ix. 5:—
And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand
of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man.