Witchcraft + the Law: How Colonial Courts Handled Accusations

In this bonus episode, we explore how English and colonial courts transformed fear into legal action. Learn how the Witchcraft Act of 1604, coverture laws, and colonial legal codes shaped witchcraft trials across Virginia, Maryland, and New England. We also examine shipboard justice and why captains held the power to condemn women at sea. Witchcraft wasn’t about magic - it was about power, patriarchy, and control.Sources:Statutes of the Realm: James I Witchcraft Act (1604).Norton, Mary Beth. In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692. Alfred A. Knopf, 2002.Karlsen, Carol F. The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England. W.W. Norton & Company, 1987.Thomas, Keith. Religion and the Decline of Magic. Oxford University Press, 1971.Hall, David D. Witch-Hunting in Seventeenth-Century New England: A Documentary History. Duke University Press, 1991.