VII M\’ last example ot rhe Last Best ("hance takes us hack to the beginning of tliis chapter; trials of'animals. "W hat was it like to tre the rats?"^" Iwvald puts the problem: "What needs to be explained is not whv one would put down a dangerous cow, but wh\' one would first bring the matter to the Law I-'acult\’ of Leipzig, comincinglv that none of the explanations pre\ iouslv adduced for trials of animals is plausible. I le also demonstrates that those who were imohed in such trials or who fa\ored them are not to be dismissed as primitixe. But not onK* animals; inanimate objects also might be put on trial. Lhe mental outlook behind such trials max' xvell not be the same ex erx xxhere, d'he most I xx ish to claimhere is that in the three exampies I x\ ill consider there are pcxinters to Lhe Last Best Clhance. lie shoxxs fMl 1. I'or ancient .\thens, .\ristotle records a special procedure: "When the king does not knoxx xxho committed the act he institutes proceedings against 'the guiltx' man,' and the king and the tribal kings trx’ tbe case, as also the prosecutions of inanimate objects and animals for homicide."^’ 'The case is before the Prutaneion, not the ordinarx courts that dealt xxith prosecution for homicide. The first indication that xve hax e d'he Last Best (lhance to deal xvith here is that xx'here a human is the slaxer this procedure is used onlx' xxhen the killer is unknoxx n. killing must be dealt x\ ith bx' laxx, it is felt, and the best that can be done is trx' 'the guiltx one' bx a special procedure.^' .\ second indication of d'be Last Best C-hance is that aniThe locus classicus is E.P. Evans, The Criminal Prosecution andCapital Punishment of Animats (London, 1906). 41 'Comparative Jurisprudence (1),' p. 1905. 42 Athenian Constitution 57.4. We may assume a religious element in the procedure. 43 If we had more information we might see here an example of The Second Best that did not involve The Last Best Chance. 142
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