Les procès de sorcellerie au parlement de Paris (1565-1640) - article ; n°4 ; vol.32, pg 790-814

Annales. Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations - Année 1977 - Volume 32 - Numéro 4 - Pages 790-814
A study of some 1100 witchcraft trials judged on appeal by the Parlement de Paris yields rather surprising conclusions. The execution rate was one of the lowest in Europe- only 15% before 1600, and 7% after the turn of the century. Long before the magistrates began to entertain rationalist doubts concerning the reality of the crime itself, there is clear evidence that the Parlement became suspicious of the methods according to which local trials were being conducted and, as early as 1588, gave serious consideration to making all sentences for witchcraft subject to automatic appeal. Conscientious efforts were made to restrain local judges from engaging in massive prosecutions. The great witch craze was sharply curtailed out of a deep concern with the legality of criminal justice and the maintenance of public order.The process had little or nothing to do with the intellectual revolution of the seventeenth century, unless that revolution be redefined.
25 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.