On 7/17/05, Bob W <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The answer to the 2nd question is No, because murder is a legal concept, and > (other) animals aren't capable of understanding it. For similar reasons > infants can't commit murder, and neither infants nor animals are allowed to > vote. <snip>
To expand on what you said, to commit a criminal act, it is required that to be guilty, one must have committed the "actus reus" (the actual act) while having the "mens rea" (the guilty mind". That doesn't mean that a criminal must know that the act is wrong, but that he must have intended to ~do~ the act. Just as infants can't have that "criminal mind", neither can insane people, or those in a state of co-called automatonism (such as sleepwalkers). So, in our criminal system, you are quite correct in that animals certainly can't be guilty of murder, or any other criminal offense. cheers, frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson
