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Category: Law Library

A full page woodcut illustration showing a magistrate preparing to torture a prisoner who is bound, while other officials look on.

Witchcraft and a Haunted Case of Torture in Joost de Damhouder’s Praxis Rerum Criminalium (1555)

Posted by: Nathan Dorn

One of the perplexing aspects of the surge in witch trials that took place in Europe between the 15th and the 18th centuries is the question of how much the personal experiences of that era’s legal personnel influenced the practice of criminal justice throughout the period. In a previous post on this blog, we saw …