INDEX

35. Whether Magistrates (original: Magistratus) are bound at this time not to inquire into and punish detractors and slanderers (original: detractores & Calumniatores). The author is likely referring to those who criticized the conduct of the witch trials or those who made false accusations against innocent people. 237

36. Whether then at least rumor alone (original: sola fama) suffices for torture (original: torturam) when the crimes are difficult to prove. 243

37. Whether proofs which would not suffice in common crimes suffice universally in excepted and secret crimes (original: exceptis & occultis) that are difficult to prove. In legal terms, a "crimen exceptum" (excepted crime) was one so serious—like heresy or witchcraft—that standard legal protections, such as the requirement for clear evidence before torture, were often bypassed. 250

38. Whether the axiom (original: axioma) commonly used in secret and difficult-to-prove crimes—that one can proceed more easily to torture than in other cases—is true in any sense. 259

39. Whether she who has confessed nothing under torture can be condemned. 262

40. Whether the revocation (original: revocatio) of a previously confessed crime, made at the place of execution (original: loco supplicij), is to be held of any significance. It was common for the accused to recant their forced confessions as they reached the scaffold; the author questions if judges should take these "deathbed" retractions seriously. 271

41. What is to be presumed concerning those who are found dead in prison (original: carceribus). 284

42. When it can be judged with a safe conscience (original: tuta conscientia) that a discovered corpse was strangled by the person themselves or by a Demon (original: Dæmone). If a prisoner died in their cell, often from the effects of torture or poor conditions, it was frequently asserted that the Devil had killed them to prevent them from revealing the truth. 291

43. What is to be thought of the marks (original: stigmatibus); whether they are a reliable sign for identifying witches (original: sagas). These "stigmata" refer to the "Devil's Mark," a spot on the body supposed to be insensitive to pain or incapable of bleeding, often used as "proof" of a pact with the Devil. 293