Precautions for Prosecutors (Cautio Criminalis)

...to form a Legal Process original: Processum at one's own discretion? Whatever that may be—for I do not wish to linger here—it is beyond controversy that in excepted cases original: exceptis; crimes like witchcraft or treason where standard legal protections were often suspended, nothing is permitted that is contrary to right reason.

DOUBT VI.

Whether the Princes of Germany act well when they proceed so harshly against the crime of witchcraft?

I ANSWER. Far be it from me to rebuke the Magistrates original: Magistratus; civil authorities or judges when they rouse themselves so vehemently against this crime; God willed that they should command us and that we should obey. They have their own reasons, which they dictate to their counselors, and they are as follows:

REASON I. They purge (as they say) the Commonwealth original: Remp., an abbreviation of Respublica of a notable plague, which crawls like a cancer and harms through contagion.

REASON II. They prevent damages and disasters, which those slaves of Satan original: Sathanæ never cease to plot.

REASON III. They fulfill their duty and calling: For thus the Apostle speaks of the Magistrate in Romans 13: He does not carry the sword in vain, for he is the Minister of God, an avenger vindex: a legal term for one who punishes or executes justice on behalf of the state to execute wrath upon him who does evil. It is so much the case that if, contrary to the common good, they fail to punish