{"id":257,"date":"2012-04-23T17:43:24","date_gmt":"2012-04-23T17:43:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.technogypsie.com\/faerie\/?p=257"},"modified":"2012-04-23T17:43:24","modified_gmt":"2012-04-23T17:43:24","slug":"the-loch-ness-monster-zombies-and-the-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/technotink.net\/lore\/the-loch-ness-monster-zombies-and-the-law\/","title":{"rendered":"The Loch Ness Monster, Zombies, and the Law"},"content":{"rendered":"

cross-posted from\u00a0<\/em>http:\/\/blogs.loc.gov\/law\/2012\/04\/the-loch-ness-monster-zombies-and-the-law\/<\/a>\u00a0.<\/p>\n

\n

The Loch Ness Monster, Zombies and the Law<\/h2>\n

April 19th, 2012 by\u00a0Clare Feikert-Ahalt<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nIn\u00a0a\u00a0post last year<\/a>, I looked at some of the United Kingdom\u0092s weird laws.\u00a0 I started to research a \u0093part two\u0094 to that post, but ended up finding so much\u00a0interesting (and yes, shockingly legal) information relating to\u00a0the\u00a0Loch Ness<\/a>\u00a0monster (commonly and affectionately\u00a0referred to as \u0093Nessie\u0094) that I decided to dedicate an entire post to\u00a0her instead.\u00a0 (I will do another weird laws post soon, I promise.)
\nThe first sighting of Nessie was allegedly in the sixth century.\u00a0 This sighting was subsequently reported in the seventh century, when a writer stated that\u00a0Saint Columba<\/a>had driven a water monster away from the Loch through prayer.\u00a0\u00a0As the\u00a0Scottish government notes<\/a>, this prayer apparently wasn\u0092t as successful as first thought, as there have been continued sightings of Nessie throughout the years.<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/a>Oliver Herford, “A horrible monster glared at them” (Illustration in “Mr. Rabbit at Home: A Sequel to Little Mr. Thimblefinger and His Queer Country” by Joel Chandler Harris, 1895) (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Reproduction Number LC-USZ62-94648)\n<\/div>\n


\nI read that\u00a0the Loch Ness\u00a0Monster is\u00a0reportedly protected<\/a>\u00a0under Scotland\u0092s\u00a0Protection of Animals Act, 1912<\/a>.\u00a0 I was very much hoping to find something revealing and awesome in this Act, and planned to look up the legislative history to see exactly why such protection was included.\u00a0 Alas, I found no provision specifically referring to Nessie by name.\u00a0 What I did find was that, if captured, Nessie may fall within the protections of the Act that apply to captive animals, defined in\u00a0section 13(c)<\/a>\u00a0as:<\/p>\n

any animal (not being a domestic animal) of whatsoever kind or species, and whether a quadruped or not, including any bird, fish, or reptile, which is in captivity, or confinement, or which is maimed, pinioned, or subjected to any appliance or contrivance for the purpose of hindering or preventing its escape from captivity or confinement.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In\u00a0order for this to apply to Nessie, she would have to be captured (rather than killed) and it would be necessary to determine exactly what Nessie is; although given the broad definition she should hopefully fall within it.\u00a0 Certain other information, held in a government file dating from the 1930s,\u00a0does\u00a0seem to\u00a0question whether Nessie would fall into this definition, as there was concern expressed\u00a0during \u0093monster\u00a0hunts\u0094\u00a0that little could be done to protect her.\u00a0 Specifically, a\u00a0letter from the Chief Constable of Inverness-shire<\/a>\u00a0noted:<\/p>\n

that there is some strange creature in Loch Ness seems now beyond doubt, but that the\u00a0police have any power to protect it [other than to warn people of the desirability of having the creature left alone] is very doubtful.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I happened to\u00a0come across\u00a0a\u00a0cartoon<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0online catalog<\/a>\u00a0of the UK\u0092s\u00a0National Archives<\/a>\u00a0that referred to a debate in the\u00a0House of Commons<\/a>\u00a0in 1933.\u00a0 I searched the records of the House of Commons for this debate and, lo and behold, there were a number of relevant records for the year 1933, as well as fairly regular mentions of Nessie in the following years.\u00a0 The first record in 1933 was a written question\u00a0as to\u00a0whether the government would conduct an investigation into Nessie\u0092s existence.\u00a0 The Secretary\u00a0of State for Scotland replied:<\/p>\n

There appears to be no reason to suspect the presence of any baneful monster in Loch Ness, and as regards scientific interests, I think that, in present circumstances, further researches are properly a matter for the private enterprise of scientists, aided by the zeal of the Press and of photographers. (284 Parl. Deb (5th ser.) HC 1933, 173<\/a>).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Another reference in 1958 once again called upon the government to conduct an investigation into the existence of Nessie, after a discovery \u0093at or near Loch Ness, of a giant-sized webbed claw, like that of a pre-historic monster\u0094 (588 Parl. Deb (5th ser.) HC 1958, 1093<\/a>).\u00a0 The Secretary of State for Scotland\u00a0noted that the \u0093object appears to resemble an alligator\u0092s foot-possibly stuffed\u0094 and that he had \u0093not been asked to assist any investigation of Loch Ness\u0094\u00a0 (588 Parl. Deb (5th ser.) HC 1958, 1093).\u00a0 Upon further questioning, the Secretary of State stated he did not see that he had any \u0093clear cut responsibility\u0094 in determining whether Loch Ness contributed towards any scientific problems, and specifically noted that ther was \u0093no evidence that the fisheries in Loch Ness need protection, either from the alleged monster or from the investigators, or vice versa\u0094\u00a0 (588 Parl. Deb (5th ser.) HC 1958, 1094).
\nThe most detailed description of Nessie comes from a debate in 1955, where she is spoken about in very tender and familiar terms:<\/p>\n

\u0085 in Scotland, we must remember, there are good monsters and bad monsters.\u00a0 In the north of Scotland we have a loch called Loch Ness.\u00a0 It is inhabited by a monster, and anybody who said anything bad against the Loch Ness monster would find himself in great danger \u0085 our monster is a \u0093verrey parfait gentil\u0094 creature indeed.\u00a0 She keeps out of the way all winter and only surfaces during the tourist season.\u00a0 She is a very thoughtful monster.\u00a0 Of course, the Loch Ness monster is a lady.\u00a0 We like her so much that we call her \u0093Nessie\u0094 and no lady \u0097 not even the bearded lady \u0097 could ever be a really successful monster (537 Parl. Deb (H.C. 5th ser.) 1955, 1149-1150).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There was some discussion in the 1960s as to whether, if Nessie was to one day wash up on the shores of the loch, she would be considered to fall within the scope of the\u00a0Royal Prerogative<\/a>,\u00a0which are ancient powers of the Crown passed on to the\u00a0Executive.\u00a0 If she did fall within the\u00a0Royal Prerogative, this would mean that if she were washed up then she would belong to the Crown.\u00a0 The debate surrounded the law regarding what constituted \u0093Royal fish.\u0094\u00a0 There was no conclusive determination of whether Nessie\u00a0met this definition.\u00a0 The Royal Prerogative\u00a0in terms of\u00a0Royal fish was ultimately preserved in section 1 of theWild Creatures and Forest Laws Act 1971<\/a>, and Scotland has published guidance on\u00a0dealing with stranded Royal Fish<\/a>, although whether Nessie would fall under this definition remains inconclusive.
\nThe later references to the Loch Ness monster were a little disappointing.\u00a0 One discussed that if Nessie packed her bags and moved to Wales certain unclassified roads would be upgraded (542 Parl. Deb (H.C. 5th ser.) 1955, 1333); but most just involved name-slinging at other Members of Parliament.\u00a0 We have such decorum in our Parliamentary debates.
\nI should not have been surprised when my research into\u00a0the laws around the Loch Ness monster took a most bizarre turn \u0096 I\u00a0did do a search for\u00a0Nessie, after all. \u00a0I seriously could not write fiction better than the records of the House of Commons for part of the rationale behind a bill so, naturally, I have to share it:<\/p>\n

Last September a school in the Gorbals division of Glasgow closed for the day \u0085 as the children poured out of school, the word went round like wildfire that there was a vampire in a nearby cemetery; that this vampire had iron teeth and had eaten two young children. With that prattle, there went talk of space ships and men from Mars, and all the time there was talk about a monster. The \u0093monster\u0094 had gripped the minds of the children, and so they armed themselves with sticks and stones and anything they could obtain, because they were out on a great mission-to destroy evil, to destroy the monster \u0085\u00a0we can see how the children from that school had their minds gripped by this idea, and how easily the idea spread and their impulses were directed to a particular end. The police found exceeding difficulty in controlling these children \u0085 I believe that [this bill] is an attempt to free the minds of our children from evil influences. By this Bill we seek to keep their minds from being poisoned.\u00a0 (537 Parl. Deb (H.C. 5th ser.) 1955, 1149-1150)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As I was searching, my results were deep linked and I ended up directly at the part of the debates that discussed zombies with iron teeth.\u00a0 My first thought was what kind of bill legislates against zombies and aliens?\u00a0 The true purpose of the bill was somewhat less glamorous –\u00a0it aimed to prohibit the sale and importation of horror comic books.\u00a0 The bill was enacted as\u00a0The Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act, 1955<\/a>, and is still on the statute books today.\u00a0\u00a0It prohibits the printing, publishing,\u00a0sale or importation of books or magazines that contain stories, mainly told\u00a0through pictures, that portray the commission of crimes; acts of violence or cruelty; or \u0093incidents of a repulsive<\/a>\u00a0or horrible nature; in such a way that the work as a whole would tend to corrupt a child or young person into whose hands it might fall.\u0094
\nI have never heard of any other incidents of out of control school children that run for their lives from zombies, so I believe that this Act can be considered a success.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

cross-posted from\u00a0http:\/\/blogs.loc.gov\/law\/2012\/04\/the-loch-ness-monster-zombies-and-the-law\/\u00a0. The Loch Ness Monster, Zombies and the Law April 19th, 2012 by\u00a0Clare Feikert-Ahalt In\u00a0a\u00a0post last year, I looked at some of the United Kingdom\u0092s weird laws.\u00a0 I started to research a \u0093part two\u0094 to that post, but ended up finding so much\u00a0interesting (and yes, shockingly legal) information relating to\u00a0the\u00a0Loch Ness\u00a0monster (commonly and affectionately\u00a0referred […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[71,23,54,59],"tags":[697,699,721,789,1006,1161,1163,1176],"class_list":["post-257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-loch-ness-monster","category-news-articles","category-vampires","category-zombies","tag-laws","tag-legal-protection","tag-loch-ness","tag-monsters-2","tag-scotland","tag-uk","tag-ukzombies","tag-vampires-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/technotink.net\/lore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/technotink.net\/lore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/technotink.net\/lore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/technotink.net\/lore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/technotink.net\/lore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/technotink.net\/lore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/technotink.net\/lore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/technotink.net\/lore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/technotink.net\/lore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}