In 1457, in the French village of Savigny, near Épinay-sur-Seine, a sow and her six piglets were formally arrested and charged with the murder of a five-year-old child. Far from being a chaotic mob execution, the proceeding followed the strict, formal protocols of secular medieval jurisprudence. Medieval legal theory posited that divine order governed all creation; thus, any entity that disrupted civil peace—human or beast—had to be brought before a tribunal to restore moral balance.
The accused sow was held in the local prison alongside human inmates, and a formal defense lawyer was appointed to represent her. During the trial, witnesses were called to testify under oath regarding the sow's actions. The defense attorney argued diligently on behalf of his client, but the physical evidence and witness testimony proved overwhelming.
The judge declared the sow guilty and sentenced her to death by hanging. Remarkably, the six piglets were acquitted. Their defense lawyer successfully argued that there was no evidence proving the piglets participated in the assault, and that they had merely been influenced by their mother's bad example.
Local residents refused to post bail or guarantee the future good behavior of the piglets, so they were remanded to the care of the local noble. Animal trials persisted in Europe from the 13th through the 18th centuries, spanning both secular courts for domestic animals and ecclesiastical courts for agricultural pests like locusts and rats.