[ London Times ]
This newspaper, most correctly known simply as The Times, began publication in 1785 and continues to this day.
The edition of May 15, 1846, carried a legal report about a lawsuit filed over the ownership of a Newfoundland dog. (A similar case was reported on in The Times back in December of 1803. In this present case, the dog was brought into court "to speak for himself." I'm not sure what they expected the dog to say, though....
Like that earlier case, this one (Norris v. Scott) brought an action of "trover," a somewhat obscure legal term referring to "an action brought to recover the value of personal items of property, wrongfully converted by another to his own use" [definitions.uslegal.com].
The man accused of stealing the dog pleaded not guilty, and so, as The Times reports,
"the real question between the parties was, whether the animal (which was a fine black and white specimen of the Newfoundland breed, and was produced in court to speak for himself and to be identified) was or was not identical with one which was lost by the defendant in April, 1845."
The plaintiff, Norris, who claimed he bought the dog a year earlier, when it was about a year old, worked as a porter, delivering various goods around London, and his Newf, he reports, was "most docile and sagacious [and] he would trot backwards and forwards at his pleasure between the plaintiff's house and his stables at all times and hours." During these journeys, the plaintiff notes, he and his dog often passed the house of the defendant, and the dog never showed that house any attention, which, the plaintiff argues, is proof the dog never belonged to the defendant.
The defendant, Scott, claimed he bought the dog 3 years earlier "quite a pup," and as the dog grew he "attracted the favour of all by his thoroughly humanized disposition and bearing, though he bore the valorous name of 'Lion.'" But one day the dog disappeared.
A few days later the defendant was approached by "a gentleman in a shooting jacket" who said he knew where Lion was and offered to get him back, for two guineas. The defendant paid and the dog was returned. But within a week he was missing again.
Nothing was heard of Lion until at some later point the defendant saw what he believed was his dog, and after "calling out 'Lion! Lion!' the dog frisked and capered about as did he of Homeric fame when the King of Ithaca returned to his home, and furthermore, after putting his hugeous paw on the defendant's shoulder," jumped into the wagon the defendant was driving. He offers this as proof the dog was his.
The jury found for the plaintiff, though they awarded him damages of only 1 shilling (a little more than $6 US in 2020.)