Summary

Bugs and Beasts Before the Law explores the history and legacy of the “animal trials” that took place in medieval Europe, in which animals—and other non-humans, such as insects and inanimate objects— were put on trial for various crimes and offences, ranging from trespassing and thievery, to assault and murder. This history of colonial law-making forged political and sometimes profane relation- ships between humans and animals. Bambitchell’s essayistic film reimagines common perceptions of legal history and, in doing so, produces a world where past and present, fiction and non-fiction, human and animal fuse.