Practicality or madness?

[ohrocky]

Quoting from the net: "The last known official witch-trial was the Doruchów witch trial in Poland in 1783".

Not quite! The last witchcraft trial in England actually took place in 1944 when Helen Duncan was convicted under the Witchcraft Act 1735 and was sentenced to 9 months imprisonment.

Jane Yorke was also convicted under that Act in the same year but was "bound over".

The Witchcraft Act was not repealed until 1951.

And please don't keep spamming; it's a bit, you know, childish

[Fisherman]

Not quite! The last witchcraft trial in England actually took place in 1944 when Helen Duncan was convicted under the Witchcraft Act 1735 and was sentenced to 9 months imprisonment.

Jane Yorke was also convicted under that Act in the same year but was "bound over".

The Witchcraft Act was not repealed until 1951.

And please don't keep spamming; it's a bit, you know, childish

Well, Rocky, since the aim was to simply point out that our Danish friend was being a tad ungenerous, the point I wanted to make is already made. But thanks for your contribution nevertheless!
PS. Just looked up the Duncan case - fascinating! DS.

[seanr]

Not quite! The last witchcraft trial in England actually took place in 1944 when Helen Duncan was convicted under the Witchcraft Act 1735 and was sentenced to 9 months imprisonment.

Jane Yorke was also convicted under that Act in the same year but was "bound over".

The Witchcraft Act was not repealed until 1951.

And please don't keep spamming; it's a bit, you know, childish

With respect, it isn't quite right to claim that prosecutions under the Witchcraft Act of 1735 were 'witch trials' in the sense usually meant by that term.

The passing of the 1735 act marked a departure from what had come before, in that it made it illegal to claim to have magical powers or to claim that another had magical powers. The act repealed laws which made conjuration itself a crime and it specifically outlawed witch-hunting (through the clauses around make claims about another. person). Such claims were seen as fraudulent and deceptive by 1735, at least by parliament.
The move from the 1735 Witchcraft Act to the 1951 Fraudulent Mediums Act was entirely in keeping with much of the tone of the previous act. In fact, the motivation for the 1951 was more one of liberalising the law to allow some to make claim to be able to commune with spirits. In the 1735 law, it is a crime to make any claim to magical powers. Under the 1951 law it is only a crime to fraudulently make such a claim.