The assembly of the Court of Oyer and Terminer was assembled in 1692 regarding the Salem Witch Trials. The court was created to end the accusations and hysteria caused by the people in Salem. Oyer and Terminer means " to hear and to determine" This definition was basically what the judges were meant to do. However, in the end, the judges listened to only the accusers, not the accused, and they determined the wrong things. This resulted in the execution of many innocent people.
The Beginning of The Court of Oyer and Terminer.
"On May 27th, the new Massachusetts governor, Sir William Phips, established a special court to try the witchcraft cases. Governor Phips created the Court of Oyer and Terminer because of the excessive amount of accused witches that needed to be tried in court. He assembled on the bench nine of the “people of the best prudence and figure that could be pitched upon.”He appointed prominent figures of Boston and the surrounding areas to be judges and magistrates At its head he installed his lieutenant governor, sixty-year-old William Stoughton. A political shape-shifter, Stoughton had served in five prior Massachusetts regimes. He had helped to unseat the reviled royal governor, on whose council he sat and whose courts he headed. He possessed one of the finest legal minds in the colony. Even though he did not have a lot of legal background, William Stoughton was appointed the Chief Justice. This new addition to the government system was created in order to help reform Salem Vililage and organize the numerous amount of trials."
Legal Process of The Court
"When an individual filed an official complaint to the court about a suspected witch, a magistrate would issue a warrant for the arrest of the accused person. Before the Court of Oyer and Terminer was appointed, the sitting magistrates of the regular Salem court or village officials presided at the examinations, which functioned as preliminary hearings and decided whether there was enough evidence to hold an accused witch for trial. In the Court of Oyer and Terminer, these magistrates included Jonathan Corwin, John Hathorne, and Bartholomew Gedney, of Salem Towne; and Thomas Danforth of Boston. If the complaint was deemed credible, the magistrates issued a warrant for arrest and the individual was brought in for a public examination, essentially an interrogation, where the magistrates pressed the accused to confess. Once the accused person was taken into custody, they were examined by two or more magistrates. If, after listening to testimony, the magistrates believed the accused person was probably guilty, the accused was sent to jail for possible re-examination and to await trial. The case would then be presented to a Grand Jury, where testimony would be made and depositions entered into evidence. If the accused is indicted by the Grand Jury, he or she was tried before the Court of Oyer and Terminer. A jury would then decide the defendant's guilt or innocence. If the defendant was found guilty, the Court would pronounce the sentence. In the Salem Witch Trials, guilty defendants were sentenced to be hanged on a specified date. The Sheriff and his deputies carried out the sentence of death."
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Tim Waggoner
Everyone in the court is accusing a woman, using false evidence, for being a witch. |
Son of the South (2003)
An accused woman threw books at the judges to show that what they were doing was not right. |
Rebecca Beatrice Brooks (August 18, 2011)
An accused woman is angry, feels wronged, and tries to attack the accuser. |