If a horse kills its master, then it should be confiscated as a ‘deodand’ and sold, its value being payable to the Crown. Even a ship can be deemed guilty of murder and confiscated as a deodand, the proceeds of its sale being given to the king to be distributed as alms. Extraordinary though this practice seems, it is at least slightly more rational than the system which prevails in France, where donkeys, pigs and cows are often tried and hanged for murder, if they happen to kill a child. In 1349 a cow is solemnly burnt at the stake for just such a crime.29
