Interpreting Legal Personhood
in Animal Literature of the Middle Ages
Book Abstract
This book examines how medieval animal literature—such as fables, beast epics, and bird debates—engages with evolving notions of legal personhood. By analyzing works like Marie de France’s Fables and Chaucer’s Nun’s Priest’s Tale alongside legal texts, this study reveals how these narratives challenge anthropocentric justice and explore the ethical treatment of vulnerable beings, human and nonhuman alike. Bridging literary and legal discourses, my research highlights how medieval ideas about legal subjectivity continue to resonate, influencing contemporary debates around corporate and animal rights, justice, and posthuman theory.​​
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*Currently under advanced contract with the Ohio State University Press
Contents (index of primary sources)
Introduction
Chapter 1
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Marie de France's Fables (12th c. Anglo-Norman)
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Glanvill Tractatus (Latin)
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Curia Regis rolls (Latin)
Chapter 2
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Le Roman de Renart (13th c. Old French)
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Philipe de Beaumanoir's Coutumes de Beauvaisis (13th c. Old French)
Chapter 3
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The Owl and the Nightingale (13th c. Middle English)
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Carta de Foresta (13th c. Latin)
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The Bishop of Lincoln's 1253 gravamina (Latin)
Chapter 4​​​
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The Thrush and the Nightingale (13th c. Middle English)
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The Vox and the Wolf (13th c. Middle English)
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The Disciplina Clericalis (Anglo-Norman exemplum, analogue of the Vox and the Wolf)
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Henry de Bracton De Legibus (13th c. Latin)
Chapter 5
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Chaucer's Nun's Priest's Tale (14th c. Middle English
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Bracton (see above)
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Hue and Cry records, late 14th century
Coda
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"The Trial of an Ox for Killing a Man" (1835 Penny Pamphlet, Newberry Library Chicago)