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相比于欧洲大陆,近代早期英格兰的巫术迫害程度较轻。这主要表现为巫术诉讼中处决人数少、案件分布较为零散,以及定罪率和处死率低。究其原因,这一定程度上得益于统治者和中央政府的控制,但更重要的是来自客观的制度性制约。一方面,英格兰独特的司法体系使统治者或掌握中央大权的精英无法单凭自己的意愿发动猎巫运动;另一方面,受到诉讼制度中禁止刑讯和陪审团卸责机制的影响,英格兰巫术案件的定罪率和处死率都处于较低水平。因此法律,或者说司法体制才是造成近代早期英格兰巫术迫害程度较轻的根本性和决定性因素。
Compared to continental Europe, witchcraft in early modern England was less persecuted. This is mainly reflected in the low number of executions, the fragmented distribution of cases and the low conviction rate and death rate in witchcraft litigation. The reason for this is partly due to the control of the rulers and the central government, but more importantly, from objective institutional constraints. On the one hand, England’s unique judicial system enables the rulers or elites with central power to launch witch-hunt campaigns on their own initiative; on the other hand, by the prohibition of torture and jury duty-relief mechanisms in the litigation system, Both the conviction rate and the death rate are at a low level. Therefore, the law, or the judicial system, is a fundamental and decisive factor in the light persecution of English witchcraft in early modern history.