Presumptions, whereby witches are condemned.
F anie womans child chance to die at hir hand,I. Bod. de dæmono. lib. 4 cap. 4. so as no bodie knoweth how; it may not be thought or presumed that the mother killed it, except she be supposed a witch: and in that case it is otherwise, for she must upon that presumption be executed; except she can proove the negative or contrarie.
Item, if the child of a woman that is suspected to be a witch, be lacking or gone from hir; it is to be presumed, that she hath sacrificed it to the divell: except she can proove the negative or contrarie.
Item, though in other persons, certeine points of their confessions may be thought erronious, and imputed to error: yet (in witches causes) all oversights, imperfections, and escapes must/26. be adjudged impious and malicious, and tend to hir confusion and condemnation.
Item, though a theefe be not said in lawe to be infamous in any other matter than in theft; yet a witch defamed of witchcraft is said to be defiled with all maner of faults and infamies universallie, though she were not condemned; but (as I said) defamed with the name of a witch. For rumors and reports are sufficient (saith Bodin) to condemne a witch.
Item,I. Bod. de dæmono. lib. 4. cap. 4. if any man, woman, or child doo saie, that such a one is a witch; it is a most vehement suspicion (saith Bodin) and sufficient to bring hir to the racke: though in all other cases it be directlie against lawe.
Item,L. decurionè de pœnis.
Panorm. & Felin. in C. veniens. 1. de testib. parsi causa. 15 4.
Lib. 4. numero. 12. usq; a 18. in presumptions and suspicions against a witch, the common brute or voice of the people cannot erre.
Item, if a woman, when she is apprehended, crie out, or saie; I am undoone; Save my life; I will tell you how the matter standeth, &c: she is thereupon most vehementlie to be suspected and condemned to die./18.
Item, though a conjurer be not to be condemned for curing the diseased by vertue of his art: yet must a witch die for the like case.