A comparative analysis of early witch trials in Lucerne, Nuremberg and Basel, within the context of criminal justice and social control. The case of Lucerne presents a fascinating interplay between witch trials and a transformation in the city's criminal procedure on one hand, and between witchcraft fears and social control on the other.

LAURA PATRICIA STOKES Assistant Professor of History at Stanford University in California, USA. She has previously published articles on the integration of torture into ordinary judicial procedure and the development of the witch stereotype during the fifteenth century.