them in their hands. It is, therefore, strictly forbidden to
all the inhabitants of this island to receive any counsel or
assistance in their adversities from any Witches or
Diviners, or anyone suspected of practicing Sorcery, under
pain of one month's imprisonment in the Castle, on bread and
water; and on their liberation they shall declare to the
Court the cause of such presumption, and according as this
shall appear reasonable, shall be dealt with as the law of
God directs.

In 1562 two women were executed in Jersey for witchcraft. One of them
named _Anne_, a native of St. Brelade's, was burnt at St. Helier's;
and the other, _Michelle La Blanche_, expiated her crime at the gibbet
of the Hurets, in the parish of St. Ouen, because criminals dwelling
on the Fief Haubert de St. Ouen, were, in accordance with custom,
required to be executed within the boundaries of the said Fief--seeing
that it possessed a gallows-right--and their goods and lands became
forfeited to the Seigneur.

In 1583 a rather curious point of law was raised in connection with a
pending witch-trial at St. Helier's. On the 15th of February in that
year, a suspected witch named _Marion Corbel_, who had been imprisoned
in the Castle awaiting her trial, suddenly died. Whereupon her
relatives came forward and claimed to be heirs to her goods and
chattles, seeing that she had not been convicted of the imputed crime,
and urging that her death put an end to further criminal proceedings.
The Queen's Procureur, however--it was in the reign of
Elizabeth--contended that death was no bar to the completion of the
indictment, although it had effectually removed the criminal from the
jurisdiction of the Court, as far as punishment was concerned. The
very reasonable claim of the deceased woman's relatives was therefore
set aside, and the defunct of course being found guilty, her
possessions reverted to the crown.

Again, forty years later, in 1623, an old woman of sixty, named _Marie
Filleul_, daughter of _Thomas Filleul_, of the parish of St.
Clement's, was tried before a jury of twenty-four of her countrymen,
and found guilty of the diabolical crime of Sorcery. She was therefore
hanged and burnt as a witch, and her goods were confiscated to the
King [James I.], and to the Seigneurs to whom they belonged.

It may be interesting to note here the opinion of Mr. Philippe Le
Geyt, the famous commentator on the constitution an