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 The Act was repealed after the death of Henry VIII in 1547 (1 Edw.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/
This document, written by Joe K. Stephens, documents the history of Oregon laws before statehood.
All documents on this page are presented through the links below in Portable Document Format (PDF) and can be viewed using free Adobe Reader software.
Below is a link to the 1848 Federal "Act to Establish the Territorial Government of Oregon," also known as the "Organic Act."
Below are PDFs of the Revised Statutes of the Territory of Oregon.
This paper is the first in a two-part series on the history of the Oregon Judicial Department. The first part discusses the history of Oregon's courts prior to statehood in 1859, and includes the adoption of the Oregon Constitution. The second part of the history, written by Stephen P. Armitage, Staff Attorney, Oregon Supreme Court, begins just after statehood, and continues through today.
Part Two: History Post-Statehood
By Joe K. Stephens
Law Librarian
This paper is the second in a two-part series on the history of the Oregon Judicial Department. The first part, written by Joe K. Stephens, Law Librarian, State of Oregon Law Library, discussed the history of Oregon's courts prior to statehood in 1859 and includes the adoption of the Oregon Constitution. This, the second part of the history, begins just after statehood and continues through today.
By Stephen P. Armitage
Staff Attorney, Oregon Supreme Court1
Table of Contents
1862--Supreme Court Expanded to Five Justices, and Fifth Judicial District Created.
1878--Supreme Court Justices Separated from Circuit Court Judges, and Supreme Court Reduced to Three Justices.
1907 -- Legislature Created Office of Commissioner to the Supreme Court.
1909 -- Office of Commissioner Ended; Supreme Court Again Expanded to Five Justices.
1910 -- Adoption of Amended Article VII to Oregon Constitution.
1913 -- Legislature Created District Court, First New Court under Authority of Article VII (Amended).
1913 -- Supreme Court Expanded to Seven Justices.
1914 -- Examinations for Admission to Oregon Bar No Longer Administered by Supreme Court.
1914 -- Interlude on Judicial Elections: Justice Charles McNary Loses Nomination by One Vote.
1929 -- End of "At Large" Elections to Supreme Court.
1931 -- End of Partisan Judicial Elections for All Courts.
1961 -- Creation of Oregon Tax Court.
1969 -- Creation of Oregon Court of Appeals.
1981 -- Unification of Judicial Department.
1998 -- Consolidation of Circuit Courts and District Courts.
2009 -- The Oregon Judicial Department Today.
Footnotes:
FN1. The author wishes to thank a number of people for their gracious assistance with research, ideas, and suggestions, great and small. In alphabetical order:
2012 marked the 150th anniversary of the Oregon Reports and this important series has grown to 350 volumes, supplemented by 248 volumes of the Court of Appeals reports and 18 volumes of the Tax Court reports. These collections of judicial opinions are an important resource, documenting the social history of the Territory and the State of Oregon. In their pages one can trace the development of Oregon's political and economic institutions; its family structures, murders, and real estate deals; acts of discrimination, as well as acts of redress and remedy.
Please join us in celebration of these remarkable documents of social history by reading the story of how they came to be. Chief Justice Thomas A. Balmer has graciously provided the Law Library with his two-part essay on the history of the Oregon Reports. Part one, The Oregon Reports, 1862-1900: A Brief History (2006), discusses the beginnings of the Oregon Reports, including the work of John G. Wilson and the controversial switch to state control over printing the Reports beginning in 1889. A Brief History of the Oregon Reports (Part 2 of 2) (2008), provides an examination of the Oregon Reports from 1900 forward. This second part focuses on competing publications in the early 20th Century, Bancroft-Whitney's 18-year tenure as publisher of the Oregon Reports, and the how control over publication of the Reports has evolved to present day.
Chief Justice Balmer's essays on the history of the Oregon Reports are provided by following the links below. These essays were originally published in 1 Oregon Appellate Almanac 157 (2006) and 3 Oregon Appellate Almanac 163 (2008).
The material assembled in these two volumes represents a brief history of the Oregon judiciary for the past, century.
Biographical sketches and photographs of all judges, past and present, who have served upon the Supreme Court of Oregon from the days of the provisional government are included, with one exception. We were unable to locate a picture of Osborne Russell, who served as Judge of the Supreme Court from November 1843 to May 14, 1844, and presided at the first trial recorded in the journal of the Court, however, there is a short and interesting biography.
The biographical material has been compiled from a variety of sources and in some instances it has taken much time and effort locating copy that was informative and adapted to the purpose of preparing short biographies. Photographs have also been a difficult problem, especially with regard to some of the judges of pioneer days. Many pictures loaned to us had to be rephotographed, and some were copies from daguerreotypes, books and group pictures. We are indebted to the Oregon Historical Society for the use of many old and valuable photographs; also to Dr. Arthus S. Beardsley, Law Librarian, University of Washington, Seattle, who favored us with several copies of rare old photographs.
To Miss Dorothy L. Cornelius credit is given for efficient work in compiling the historical and biographical material, also in supervising the necessary photographic copying.
During the past one hundred years many outstanding men have served with distinction upon the Oregon Supreme Court, and they have helped guide the destinies of its people through the maze and wilderness of modern life and a fast developing country. As time goes on perhaps this record of judicial careers may be continued and prove useful for reference purposes.
Nov. 7, 1945
Arthur F. Benson
Clerk, Supreme Court of Oregon.
Arthur F. Benson's Foreword Document
Supreme Judges
First session of 1915 Term, Monday, Jan. 4th
Henry L Benson, Thomas A. McBride, George H. Burnett, Frank A. Moore, Robert Eakin, Lawrence T. Harris and P.H. Raymond, Bailiff
Lawrence T. Harris, George H. Burnett, Frank A. Moore, Wallace McCamant, Henry L. Benson, Thomas A. McBride and Henry J. Bean
Percy R. Kelly, John L. Rand, George M. Brown, Harry H. Belt, Henry J. Bean, Oliver P. Coshow and George Rossman
Hall S. Lusk, Percy R. Kelly, Harry H. Belt, John O. Bailey, John L. Rand, Henry J. Bean and George Rossman
Hall S. Lusk, Percy R. Kelly, Harry H. Belt, John O. Bailey, John L. Rand and James T. Brand
James T. Brand, Percy R. Kelly, Harry H. belt, John O. Bailet, George Rossman, Hall S. Lusk and Arthur D. Hay
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