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Cannibalism and the Common Law: The Story of the Tragic Last Voyage of the Mignonette and the Strange Legal Proceedings to Which It Gave Rise
Describes the trial in 1884 of two young English sailors for the murder and cannibalism of a fellow shipmate
354 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1984
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 16, 2018
This is a classic that used to be assigned to law students. It involves a case from 1884 where three British shipwrecked sailors were rescued and admitted to having killed and eaten the fourth to survive. This was apparently acceptable practice at the time, but finally some lawyer said, "Hey, they commited murder, and the law still counts if you're at sea." So they were put on trial and convicted. Everyone expected them to be pardoned, but the guy in charge of asking Queen Victoria to pardon them was having a spat with her, so they got their sentence commuted to 6 months in prison instead. The case really changed a lot of things about British law, particularly about how murder is always murder, even if you do it to survive.
I didn't like this book as much as I expected to. The author really really goes into detail about similar cases, occasionally breaking the chronology and losing momentum for the case we're supposed to care about. Most of the records from that period were destroyed in various fires during World War II or simply thrown away, so he admits to not being able to fill in some blanks. Some of the period detail is fascinating and sometimes it just bogs the whole book down.
I didn't like this book as much as I expected to. The author really really goes into detail about similar cases, occasionally breaking the chronology and losing momentum for the case we're supposed to care about. Most of the records from that period were destroyed in various fires during World War II or simply thrown away, so he admits to not being able to fill in some blanks. Some of the period detail is fascinating and sometimes it just bogs the whole book down.
June 24, 2020
This reads, in language, like a Monty Python sketch. Where the dialogue is nominally serious, but little bits of dry humor crack in, here without the humor. The book is about a single yachting accident and subsequent investigation and trial, where the survivors kill a weakened member of their crew and eat him to stay alive. The captain that did the killing is open about it when rescued, and gives a faithful-ish recount to those who investigate him.
None of that is a spoiler, it's in the first chapter/prologue.
The book then goes into the larger practice of cannibalism at sea by "Western" sailors to stay alive, and how much leeway captains and sailors had in their actions at sea in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The book is mostly as dry as white toast, with some more salacious bits thrown in. It is written by someone who clearly idolizes/romanticizes the British sailing and yachting culture (more the latter). This is obvious by the level of detail in the descriptions of the yachts. It'd be like a story about interpersonal relationships among race car drivers, with very specific specs given as to the car's HP, torque, weight, frame shape, welding style, etc. You could tell it was written by a gearhead. Here, then is a "gearhead" of British yachts of the 1800s. I think that's where the Monty Python feel comes in, with the almost comical level of detail about things that ABSOLUTELY DONT MATTER TO THE STORY AT ALL. But if you love the topic, you will write what you want to write.
I found myself skipping past the 40th, 50th, 100th detailed description of yachts and other sailing ships (beam, forecastle design, rigging, etc) to get to the human story of how, why and when we resort to cannibalism. Odd, again, that a book about the topic should mostly be a mayonnaise sandwich.
If you are looking for something at the opposite end, something that is basically a TMZ/pop-journalism article about cannibalism, comprised almost entirely of first-person accounts to historians, then check out Thrilling Narratives of Mutiny, Murder and Piracy: A weird series of tales of shipwreck and disaster, from the earliest part of the century to the present ... escapes and heart-rending fatalities.. It's in the public domain for download, and is the equivalent of tabloid journalism in book form. Guilty pleasure.
None of that is a spoiler, it's in the first chapter/prologue.
The book then goes into the larger practice of cannibalism at sea by "Western" sailors to stay alive, and how much leeway captains and sailors had in their actions at sea in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The book is mostly as dry as white toast, with some more salacious bits thrown in. It is written by someone who clearly idolizes/romanticizes the British sailing and yachting culture (more the latter). This is obvious by the level of detail in the descriptions of the yachts. It'd be like a story about interpersonal relationships among race car drivers, with very specific specs given as to the car's HP, torque, weight, frame shape, welding style, etc. You could tell it was written by a gearhead. Here, then is a "gearhead" of British yachts of the 1800s. I think that's where the Monty Python feel comes in, with the almost comical level of detail about things that ABSOLUTELY DONT MATTER TO THE STORY AT ALL. But if you love the topic, you will write what you want to write.
I found myself skipping past the 40th, 50th, 100th detailed description of yachts and other sailing ships (beam, forecastle design, rigging, etc) to get to the human story of how, why and when we resort to cannibalism. Odd, again, that a book about the topic should mostly be a mayonnaise sandwich.
If you are looking for something at the opposite end, something that is basically a TMZ/pop-journalism article about cannibalism, comprised almost entirely of first-person accounts to historians, then check out Thrilling Narratives of Mutiny, Murder and Piracy: A weird series of tales of shipwreck and disaster, from the earliest part of the century to the present ... escapes and heart-rending fatalities.. It's in the public domain for download, and is the equivalent of tabloid journalism in book form. Guilty pleasure.
June 12, 2019
I read this book for my dissertation and can definitely recommend it as being an interesting read on this odd area of precedent. The book offers a very through recount of the well know case of R v Dudley and Stephens (1884), analysing the mechanisms and decisions leading to this historically significant judgement.
December 18, 2021
This book was mentioned in a book I read about Jeffery Dahmer. I didn't realize how prevalent cannibalism was in the nineteenth century and ships sank with frightening regularity. I amazed anyone went to sea. The middle part of the book, the part containing the actual trial and legal proceedings, was a little slow. The rest of the book was very interesting.
January 12, 2024
Well-researched, incredibly thorough, and uses a tone that is both authorative and human...it even had some small references that made me chuckle amidst the heavy material. (I just wish it had specific citations throughout, even though it does a good job of indicating what primary sources are being used in the text.)
October 1, 2013
A look at all the different ways the legal system can interpret cannibalism for survival. Simpson profiles cases of frontier cannibalism, touching briefly on the Donner Party, then more extensively on Alferd G. Packer, "The Colorado Man-Eater". Much of the book involves murder and cannibalism at sea, a situation known as "the custom of the sea", which was not uncommon in days when ship owners would intentionally send crews out with insufficient food simply to cut costs. Many of the chapters are devoted to the case of the Mignonette, and English ship that wrecked in 1884. The group of survivors in a small boat eventually killed the seventeen year-old cabin boy and ate him, a fact they never tried to hide upon rescue. The captain and his mate were, after a long trial that involved two district courts and multiple high court judges, convicted of the murder. It's one of the very few trials of its kind, as murder had traditionally been overlooked in cases of cannibalism at sea.
I actually started this one around this time last year, got about 30 pages in, then put it on a shelf and forgot all about it. Can I say that this is a good look at the subject? It's pretty surprising at how many cases of survival cannibalism the author finds, especially among sailors. Most, but not all the cases of survival included here involve cannibalism, and Simpson provides legal information throughout. In fact, his chapters of the legal battle involved in the Mignonette began to seem like they would never end, but it does give a thorough insight as to how the court system operated at that time, and explains a little used strategy that would eventually mutate into The Court of Appeals.
I actually started this one around this time last year, got about 30 pages in, then put it on a shelf and forgot all about it. Can I say that this is a good look at the subject? It's pretty surprising at how many cases of survival cannibalism the author finds, especially among sailors. Most, but not all the cases of survival included here involve cannibalism, and Simpson provides legal information throughout. In fact, his chapters of the legal battle involved in the Mignonette began to seem like they would never end, but it does give a thorough insight as to how the court system operated at that time, and explains a little used strategy that would eventually mutate into The Court of Appeals.
February 11, 2017
3.5 stars. Meticulously researched and full of minutiae that probably alienates most readers. I was intrigued in school with the trial and punishment of people for whom continued living with an awareness of the consequences of their decisions seems like punishment enough. Who? Parents who refused medical care and watch their children die from curable diseases or accidents. And then those addressed in this book: survival cannibalists. The book starts with a history of Victorian yachting, moves to the events of Dudley and Stephens, reviews the custom of the sea, covers frontier cannibals and then returns to the case of Dudley and Stephens. Ultimately many of the reasons why this one case made it's way to court are answered, but like all law cases, you are left with the feeling everyone was worse off for the involvement with the court.
August 22, 2014
This is an uneven book: strong as it relates the procedural history of the cannibalism case, still OK as it tells a series of gruesome stories of survival, but too full of details that can be of little interest to the reader. There are, for instance, scores of pages devoted to a who's who of Victorian yachting.
If the reader can get through the unnecessary detail, paying attention selectively to the facts that mattered to the case, there's lots here to like. I particularly enjoyed the description of the trial judge's maneuvering, necessary, apparently, if the case were to become a precedent rather than a mere footnote.
What were the judges trying to do in this case? Apparently, they wished to establish that, contrary to the informal understanding of sailors at the time, it was not OK to kill and eat your shipmates, even if you were awfully hungry (or as the judges put it, even if cannibalism was necessary to your survival). The author makes the point that leading cases of the common law probably never penetrated as far as the forecastle, where the seamen lived, so this case would have had little or no effect on conduct. Maybe the more enlightened sailors, those aware of the holding of the case, would change their behavior in one way: they would have known enough to lie about their cannibalistic activities.
If the reader can get through the unnecessary detail, paying attention selectively to the facts that mattered to the case, there's lots here to like. I particularly enjoyed the description of the trial judge's maneuvering, necessary, apparently, if the case were to become a precedent rather than a mere footnote.
What were the judges trying to do in this case? Apparently, they wished to establish that, contrary to the informal understanding of sailors at the time, it was not OK to kill and eat your shipmates, even if you were awfully hungry (or as the judges put it, even if cannibalism was necessary to your survival). The author makes the point that leading cases of the common law probably never penetrated as far as the forecastle, where the seamen lived, so this case would have had little or no effect on conduct. Maybe the more enlightened sailors, those aware of the holding of the case, would change their behavior in one way: they would have known enough to lie about their cannibalistic activities.
February 20, 2011
An idiosyncratic but comprehensive look at the leading case of Regina v. Dudley and Stephens, about, yes, maritime cannibalism, Simpson also provides an examination of other notorious instances of survival cannibalism in order to construct a sort of opinio juris of the practice. Quite often mordantly funny, the book also provides the epigram to the Mountain Goats album Tallahassee.
June 15, 2014
Correct edition
February 19, 2016
So good!
Want to read
May 4, 2019Synopsis: a classic of legal history. The Mignonette foundered in 1884. Cannibalism occurred and two crew members were charged with murder.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews