English and Scottish Laws Regarding Witchcraft
Taken from Witches: An Encyclopedia of Paganism and Magic by Michael Jordan
The first statute against witchcraft was passed in England in 1542 during the reign of Henry VIII and was repealed in 1547 on the accession of Edward VI. North of the border a similar statute was passed under Mary Queen of Scots in 1562. In Scotland, however, the law differed in that torture was allowed as a legal means of extracting confession. The 1542 Act in England treated witchcraft as a felony, involving positive acts of malevolence towards the public in general. The Act stated that it was a capital offence to practise witchcraft, enchantment or sorcery, to find treasure, to cause physical harm to another, to provoke unlawful love, or for any other unlawful purpose.
The second English statute was passed in 1563 under Elizabeth I. It was more draconian than that of 1542 in that it decreed the death penalty for all convicted of invoking evil spirits irrespective of whether they involved the maleficium. It was more lenient, however, in that the death penalty was only served if the witchcraft involved the death of another person. Less serious results of witchcraft incurred a maximum of 1 year jail sentence.
The third statute of 1604, passed in the reign of James I incorporated a number of continental notions of witchcraft, including those of a diabolical pact and devil worship and was essentially the most severe law, making it a capital offence if the victim was injured and if all kinds of lesser magic were practised. It also became a felony to disinter bodies for magical purposes, in other words, for necromancy. The Act did, however, continue to draw a distinction between evil and benign spirits and in so doing, spared the wizard or magician from charges.
In England and Wales indictment proceeded under civil, not ecclesiastical law so that hose convicted were hung not burnt. In this respect the style of punishment differed from that in Scotland and on the continent.
The first major English trial conducted under any of these laws took place at Chelmsford in 1566 when three women, Elizabeth Francis, Agnes Waterhouse and Joan Waterhouse were arraigned on charges of witchcraft. Joan Waterhouse was acquitted, but her mother, Agnes, was convicted and hanged. Elizabeth Francis was also acquitted but was hanged after a subsequent conviction in 1579.
Essex was the county of England chiefly affected by the witch-craze and among the most famous Chelmsford trials was that of Joan Prentis who, with two others, was hanged in July 1589.
Arguably the extreme severity of the act of 1604 was instrumental in turning the tide of the witch-craze in England since it generated considerable scepticism among both common people and the magistrates.
In 1736 the remaining Witchcraft Acts in England and Scotland were repealed. The new law preserved the right to prosecute persons who allegedly possessed magical powers but it also denied the existence of those powers. The 1736 statute was effective until it was replaced by the Fraudulent Mediums Act of 1951 which gave freedom for the individual to practise witchcraft so long as it did not result in harm to persons or property.