摘要：Using parish court records as a source of study requires understanding the history of the the parish court as an institution and the court institutions for peasants of the Estonian region in general. The first parish courts in Estonia were established in the late 18th century, and generally were subject to change with the regulations of 1802 and the peasant laws of 1804. The Livonian peasant law does not set punishment for hitting, beating and violent handling of animals, thus injuring animals was covered by crimes against property. I review plaints concerning injury to domestic animals in the records of some South-Estonian parish courts. These fall into two broad categories: complaints about beating of and injury to domestic animals or killing or causing death of domestic animals. There are more complaints about harming or beating. Injuring or killing animals could be stiffly penalised.
