William Andrews opens Legal Lore with a preface noting that the book follows his earlier volume The Lawyer in History, Literature, and Humour. The contents page lists seventeen chapters by various contributors, each tackling a distinct legal curiosity. The first chapter, “Bible Law” by S. Burgess, immediately confronts the risk of irreverence when discussing scriptural legal codes. This self-aware, scholarly tone recurs throughout the collection, as authors balance historical detail with a light touch appropriate for “the lighter literature of the law,” as The Times described Andrews’s previous work.

Animal Defendants and Witnesses

The chapter “Trials of Animals” recounts a 1572 case in Nancy where a pig was led by cord to a cross near the cemetery, tied, and left for execution. The report specifies that the pig was “a brute beast” and that the mayor and justice held a conference at that spot. Such procedural formality extended to a cock tried at Basle for laying an egg, accused of sorcery. The advocate argued no evil animus had been proved and that the act was involuntary. The prosecutor countered by citing the Gadarene swine, who were “involuntary agents” yet punished. The cock was burned at the stake. The chapter also notes that in some Swiss jurisdictions, a householder who killed a burglar at night had to produce a domestic animal as witness and swear innocence in its presence; if the animal did not contradict him, he was acquitted.

The Vocabulary of Legal Procedure

Several chapters highlight the precise language used in old statutes and court records. In “Bible Law,” Burgess carefully distinguishes between Mosaic precepts and later interpretations, using terms like “verbal inspiration” to frame the difficulty. The trial report from Nancy includes the phrase “without prejudice to the judicial rights of the lord,” a formula that underscores the layered jurisdictions of feudal law. In “Cockieleerie Law,” Robert Bird employs Scots legal terms that echo the chapter’s title, a reference to a local custom. The editor’s own preface speaks of “byways of literature,” signaling that the collection values lexical curiosities as much as historical ones.

Feudal Tenures and Manor Law

Chapters such as “Law Under the Feudal System” and “The Manor and Manor Law” examine how land ownership shaped legal obligations. England Howlett’s contributions detail ancient tenures that required tenants to perform specific services—like providing a rose or a pair of gloves—rather than paying rent. These obligations were recorded in manorial rolls, and the authors quote from them to show how law was embedded in daily life. The chapter “Laws of the Forest” by Edward Peacock discusses the special jurisdiction of royal forests, where game laws were enforced with distinct penalties. Together, these essays illustrate a legal landscape where local custom often trumped central statute.

Punishment and Its Documentation

Sidney W. Clarke’s “Barbarous Punishments” catalogs methods of execution and mutilation from medieval to early modern times, drawing on court records and chronicles. The chapter avoids sensationalism by focusing on the legal rationale behind each penalty. Similarly, “Fatal Links” by Ernest H. Rann examines cases where circumstantial evidence—a chain of small facts—led to convictions. The authors consistently cite specific sources: M. Berriat St. Prix’s list of animal trials, Lionnois’s history of Nancy, Ruchat’s history of the Reformation in Switzerland. This reliance on documented evidence gives the collection a scholarly foundation even when the subject matter is macabre or absurd.

Readers interested in the evolution of legal procedure will find that Legal Lore rewards attention to the footnotes and source citations scattered through each chapter. The essays were written by different hands, so the style shifts from Burgess’s cautious theological analysis to Neilson’s crisp historical summaries. Approaching the book as a series of independent articles—each with its own bibliography—allows one to appreciate the range of legal oddities without expecting a unified argument.