French and American Histories of Animal Prosecutions: Criminal Punishment and Animal Rights through the Prism of the Past

Between the early 1800s and the early 1900s, a sudden, and as yet unexplained, transatlantic literature on the history of animal prosecutions emerged. Focusing on France and the United States, this article explores the birth and evolution of this literature. A product of such developments as the rise of historicism, positivist criminology, and a social movement against animal cruelty, this literature addresses what proved to be enduring challenges of criminal punishment and animal rights. In so doing, it highlights the interrelation of these seemingly distinct domains.