Witches and the pursuit of them were common in early modern Europe and the Americas. While witches are still prevalent in our culture today, they are often seen as a source of entertainment in movies, children's literature, and during Halloween celebrations. A timely topic for October is the historical relationship between witch trials and the law.
Witchcraft Acts
In the 1500s and 1600s, various laws were established across England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland to control magic and witchcraft. Among these, England's three primary witchcraft acts had the most impact on additional regulations and history.
The Witchcraft Act of 1542 (33 Hen. VIII c. 8) was the first to define witchcraft and to criminalize it as a felony punishable by death without clergy or sanctuary. The Act was repealed after the death of Henry VIII in 1547 (1 Edw. VI, c12) and was not replaced until five years into Elizabeth I's reign.
In 1562, an Act Against Conjurations, Enchantments and Witchcrafts (5 Eliz. 1. c. 16) reclassified witchcraft as a felony and shifted trials from church settings to secular courts. It also created penalties for first and second offenses that were less severe than death.
In 1604, The Witchcraft Act, officially titled "An Act Against Conjuration, Witchcraft, and Dealing with Evil and Wicked Spirits" (2 Jas. I c. 12), expanded the Act of 1562 by increasing the scope of crimes and expanding the death penalty punishment.
Witch Trials
Most of what we know about England’s historic witch trials comes from records of the assize courts. The Assizes, or Courts of Assize, served as the foundation for civil and felony criminal cases in English counties until 1971.
The book Witch Hunting and Witch Trials: The Indictments for Witchcraft from the Records of 1373 Assizes Held for the Home Circuit, 1559-1736 A.D., offers legal insight and a general historical examination of this time period. Some noteworthy sections include the names of convicted witches, jury instructions, jail rolls, and charging details by date within each monarch's reign.
The book is part of the Notable Trials Collection at the State of Oregon Law Library. This collection is not limited to European trials; it also features notable American cases. Among the collection is The American State Trials, a 17-volume set that includes The Trials of Bridget Bishop and George Burroughs. Bishop was the first person sentenced to death during the Salem Witch Trials in colonial Massachusetts, while Burroughs was the only Puritan minister to be executed.
Trials Collection
The law library's Notable Trials Collection includes significant historical trials from Britain and France, the Nuremberg war crime tribunals, and important American trials spanning from the colonial period to the 1980s. This collection addresses a wide range of topics, including treason, sedition, land use disputes, murder and assassination, court-martials, Cold War espionage, art and obscenity, as well as both judicial and presidential impeachments.
August is National Make-A-Will Month, a yearly reminder about the benefits of creating or updating a will. While end-of-life issues may not be everyone's favorite topic, having a plan can help avoid family disputes and costly court proceedings. The State of Oregon Law Library has several resources to help.
What is a will?
A will is a legal document that determines how your assets are divided upon death and who becomes the caretaker of any minor children. It also allows you to establish a personal representative or executor to carry out your wishes.
What happens if you die without a will?
You are not legally required to draft a will. If you die without a valid will, it is called dying intestate. When this happens, state law and the court determine how your assets get distributed. Assets go to your closest relatives first, as defined by Oregon law, regardless of your relationship with them.
Who can create a will?
In Oregon, any person who is 18 or older and of sound mind may make a will. (ORS 112.225)
Where do you start?
The Legal Information Reference Center is a great starting point. This database contains reference books, legal guides, and forms written in plain language. Look for The Quick and Legal Will Book for instructions on drafting a basic will. The Wills & Estate Planning category lists additional end-of-life planning tools. Both are available online with a State of Oregon Law Library Account. Oregon residents can sign up for a free account online.
The Oregon Barbooks are written by Oregon attorneys and published by the Oregon State Bar. Administering Trusts in Oregon and Administering Estates in Oregon are two books that can assist in your life planning. Available in print and online with a digital token.
When should you update and/or review your will?
It's a good idea to review your will every five years or whenever there is a significant change in your life. Examples of changes include:
Other estate and planning tools
An estate plan is a more comprehensive plan that can be used during life and after death. More specifically, an estate plan often includes a will, trusts, a health directive, and various types of powers of attorney.
Using a lawyer
A lawyer can give legal advice on drafting a will and developing an estate plan. Search for Wills or Estate Planning in the legal directories on SOLL's resource page.
The State of Oregon Law Library (SOLL) is thrilled to announce that we are celebrating our 50th anniversary of providing federal government documents to the public!
The Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) was created to make sure people have access to government information at the local level. Under Title 44 of the United States Code, the public has free access to government documents in designated depository libraries. SOLL officially joined the FDLP program in February 1974.
There are two types of depositories in the FDLP: regional and selective depositories. Regional depositories receive copies of all federal government documents. In Oregon, our regional depository is the State Library of Oregon.
SOLL is a selective federal depository library. That means we choose which federal publications to add to our collection.
Here are some examples of government documents available at the law library:
Visit the State of Oregon Law Library at 1163 State St., Salem, Oregon or online at https://oregon.gov/soll/
Under the 1857 Constitution, the Supreme Court consisted of four justices, who also served individually as the judges of the four circuit courts.1 (Although the Supreme Court had four members, only three would hear each case; one justice would be disqualified because he had heard the case as circuit court judge.2 ) Each Supreme Court justice/circuit court judge was elected by the individual district in which he served.3 As originally constituted, the first district consisted of Jackson, Josephine, and Douglas Counties; the second district, of Umpqua, Coos, Curry, Lane, and Benton Counties; the third district, of Linn, Marion, Polk, Yamhill, and Washington Counties; and the fourth district, of Clackamas, Multnomah, Wasco, Columbia, Clatsop, and Tillamook Counties.4
The Framers of the Oregon Constitution had an eye to the future, however. First, the Constitution authorized the Legislature to expand the number of judicial districts (and the number of Supreme Court justices) to as many as five; once certain population requirements were met, the Constitution permitted the Legislature to expand the number of districts (and justices) to as many as seven.5 Second, the Constitution authorized the 5 Legislature to have Supreme Court justices elected separately from circuit court judges, once the state's population had reached a certain figure.6
In 1862, the Legislature added a fifth justice to the Supreme Court, and a fifth judicial district to the state.7 The new fifth district consisted of Wasco, Umatilla, and Baker Counties.8 Joseph Gardner Wilson was appointed as the fifth justice.9
The Legislature enacted legislation splitting Supreme Court justices and circuit courts judges into different classes in 1878.10 In doing so, the Legislature reduced the number of Supreme Court justices from five to three -- possibly out of concern that the Constitution mandated a three-justice Supreme Court after the split.11 In splitting the 11 classes, the Legislature also ended the election of Supreme Court justices by district.12 The 1878 act created what was functionally a new Supreme Court, as the Court itself would note just a few years later:
"Although invested with the same supreme judicial power, it is not the same supreme court which existed prior to the act of the legislature. It differs in its composition, in the number of its offices and officers, their election and duties. The fact is that the offices of the former supreme court, like the officers of that court, went out in the re-organization which the act effected."13
The split between the Supreme Court and the circuit courts became effective with the elections in the summer of 1880.14Nevertheless, the December 1877 term was the last in which the court consisted of five justices -- P.P. Prim, R.P. Boise, E.D. Shattuck, L.L. McArthur, and J.F. Watson.15 The three justices who ended the term of the old Supreme Court were James K. Kelly, R.P. Boise, and P.P. Prim.16 The three justices of the new Supreme Court elected in 1880 were William P. Lord, E.B. Watson, and John B. Waldo.17
Footnotes:
FN1. Or Const, Art VII (Original), §§ 2, 8; see Cline & Newsome v. Greenwood & Smith, 10 Or 230, 1 232 (1882) (so noting). The first four justices were Aaron E. Wait, Chief Justice, and Reuben P. Boise, Riley E. Stratton, and Paine P. Prim, Associate Justices. See 1 Or 241 (1853-62) (listing justices for first term of Oregon Supreme Court after statehood). Matthew P. Deady had been elected to the Court in 1859, but he declined to qualify for the position, instead becoming United States District Judge for the District of Oregon. Sidney Teiser, A Pioneer Judge of Oregon: Matthew P. Deady, 44 Or Hist Q 61, 80-81 (1943).
FN2. Or Const, Art VII (Original), § 6; see State v. Cochran, 55 Or 157, 185, 104 P 419, 105 P 884 (1909) ("Section 2 provided the minimum number as four [justices], of which, under Section 6, on account of one of the number having tried the case appealed, but three justices could sit on an appeal").
FN3. Or Const, Art VII (Original), § 2 (justices are "to be chosen in districts by the electors thereof"); see also Cline & Newsome, 10 Or at 232 (1882) (noting elections by district).
FN4. Or Const, Art XVIII, § 11.
FN5. Or Const, Art VII (Original), § 2 (expansion to seven districts/justices permitted when "the white population of the state shall amount to one hundred thousand").
FN6. Or Const, Art VII (Original), § 10 (specifically, "[w]hen the white population of the state shall 6 amount to two hundred thousand").
FN7. "An act to create a fifth judicial district, and increase the number of justices of the supreme court" dated October 11, 1862, General Laws of Oregon 89-90 (1862) (fifth district consisted of Wasco County, "together with all the counties and territory east of the summit of the Cascade mountains").
FN8. See "An act to provide the times for holding circuit and county courts" dated October 17, 1862, General Laws of Oregon 68-70 (1862) (setting terms of court for those counties in the fifth judicial district).
FN9. Justices of the Supreme Court of the State of Oregon, 2 Or (8) (1862-69).
FN10. "An act to provide for the election of Supreme and Circuit Judges i[n] distinct classes" dated 10 October 17, 1878, § 1, Laws of Oregon 31-33 (1878).
FN11. See id. at §§ 2, 10 (specifically providing for three justices). The constitutional provision was Article VII (Original), section 10. In authorizing the Legislature to split Supreme Court justices and circuit court judges into different classes, that provision specifically stated that "one of which classes shall consist of three justices of the Supreme Court." Please see the discussion of the 1909 expansion of the Supreme Court, discussed below, for more information.
FN12. See "An act to provide for the election of Supreme and Circuit Judges i[n] distinct classes" dated 12 October 17, 1878, § 2, Laws of Oregon 31-33 (1878) (providing for election of Supreme Court justices; no reference is made to district); Cline & Newsome, 10 Or at 234 (adoption of legislation necessarily ended "[t]he former system by which supreme judges were elected by districts").
FN13. Cline & Newsome, 10 Or at 236.
FN14. See "An act to provide for the election of Supreme and Circuit Judges i[n] distinct classes" dated 14 October 17, 1878, § 2, Laws of Oregon 31-33 (1878) (providing that elections would take place in 1880).
FN15. Justices of the Supreme Court, 6 Or at (iii) (1876-77) (through the December term, 1877). By the January term of 1879 -- the next term of the court -- there were only three justices: James K. Kelly, R.P. Boise, and P.P. Prim. Justices of the Supreme Court, 7 Or at (v) (1879).
FN16. Justices of the Supreme Court, 8 Or at (3) (1879-80).
FN17. Id.; see also M.C. George, Political History of Oregon from 1876-1898 Inclusive, 3 Or Hist Q 107, 111 (1902) (so noting).
