Les procès de sorcellerie pendant la iiie République

The crime of witchcraft was punishable by legal proceedings in the XIXth and XXth centuries for fraud, illegal use of medicine, affront to public decency, etc. This study deals with the relationships between the law courts and the practices that those being tried still consider magic or diabolical. It highlights the discrepancy between two meaningful worlds, secularized justice and a society which is far from being «disenchanted». In using case-studies, the author makes the connection with innovations and controversies at a time when hygienism and legal medicine are developing, as are the debate on «subconscious energies» and the meaning of hypnosis. It shows how legal repression has been able to give substance to the idea held by those being tried. These people, who are not in the same mental categories as the judges, are convinced of there being diabolical interventions in everyday life. The «survival» of the devil depends on many factors, including the activity of courts which question his existence