Blogroll

The animal trials of the Middle Ages

In 1386, a large, diverse crowd gathered in the public square in Falaise, Normandy, France. They were there to witness the execution of a prisoner convicted of murder after mutilating the face and arms of a child. The prisoner wore a new suit of men’s clothes and even the hangman provided himself with a new […]

Loco Lawsuits: God in Court

Not surprisingly, one of the things taught first-year law students is how to actually get someone into court. Two of the most fundamental principles are that the court has to have jurisdiction over the defendant and the defendant has to be served with notice of the suit. These can be stumbling blocks when a deity, […]

Medieval impotency trials

No, this isn’t another installment of Loco Lawsuits. Nor does it deal with the multibillion dollar sales of erectile dysfunction drugs. While some today may be embarrassed to even ask about or pick up an ED prescription, that’s nothing compared to dealing with ED in the Middle Ages.

Under medieval Church law, impotence was one […]

Loco Lawsuits: It’s the NFL’s Fault

I no longer follow the NFL but with the teams being set for the Super Bowl, it seems appropriate to kick off Loco Lawsuits with a reminder that sometimes there’s little difference between a fan and a fanatic.

In the 2014 NFL season, the Dallas Cowboys won the East Division, putting them in the playoffs […]

Stupid is as stupid says

Once again, Trumpists, right-wingers and the like display an overabundance of cognitive dissonance in one of their latest hissy fits. This tizzy stems from President Donald Trump being banned by Twitter, Facebook and other mainstream social media sites and that some 70,000 accounts being suspended after the Capitol riot for espousing the QAnon lunacy and […]