In 1531, the bishop's court in Autun, France, initiated legal proceedings against local rats accused of destroying the region's vital barley crop. The court appointed a young French lawyer named Bartholomew Chassenée to represent the rodents. Rather than dismissing the summons as a joke, Chassenée treated his non-human clients with rigorous legal seriousness.
When the rats failed to appear on the appointed court date, Chassenée argued that a single summons was insufficient for a population dispersed across multiple villages. The court agreed and granted an extension. At the next hearing, the rats failed to show up again.
Chassenée brilliantly defended their absence by citing the legal precedent that a defendant is excused from attending court if traveling to the venue poses a mortal danger. He pointed out that the townsfolk's domestic cats and dogs occupied every route to the courthouse, creating an impossible hazard for his clients. The judge accepted the argument and adjourned the trial indefinitely, handing Chassenée a landmark victory and establishing his reputation as a master legal tactician.