medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>From: John Mundy <[log in to unmask]>
>Dear francine: thanks for that posting on salem. By the bye, knowing next
>to nothing about English law, I always thought pressing was applied to
make a suspect willing to plead before a jury of his countrymen. Were there
juries at Salem? Or am I simply wrong about the peine forte et dure?
Dear John:
Even in the earliest period, Massachusetts law differed from English law,
though sometimes the differences are hard to pinpoint to a certainty. Peine
forte et dure was used in the case of Giles Corey because he refused to
plea, but it may have been used in violation of Massachusetts law. There
were juries at Salem, but my impression is that they functioned largely as
rubber stamps to decisions made by magistrates at earlier hearings.
Sometimes the surviving records do not make it clear whether a hearing was
before the magistrates alone or before a jury. I'm not certain who was
present when Giles Corey refused to plead. I'll try to find out and get back
to you. I'm not an expert on Mass. law, but my impression is that the
magistrates pretty much did as they pleased. For example, one piece of
"evidence" against Giles corey was a letter written by Thomas Putnam to one
of the magistrates detailing a dream his daughter had in which an
unidentified ghost claimed to be the spirit of someone killed by Giles
Corey. The letter was read aloud in court by the magistrate and entered as
evidence of witchcraft. My impression is that this was pushing the envelope
even among those who argued that "spectral evidence" should be accepted.
Francine Nicholson
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