Jodocus Damhouder

Jost Damuderius (1507 - 1581), better known by his German name as Jodocus Damhouder. Dutch lawyer, expert on the laws of western cities (including Belgium and France), specialist in urban criminal law.

He was born in Bruges. He studied law in Leuven and Orleans. In 1533 he received his doctorate and returned to Bruges where he began his legal practice. In 1537 he was appointed legal adviser to the municipal authorities and held this office until 1550, after which he became a civil servant of the criminal court. In 1552 he was appointed by Maria Habsburg a member of the Council of the United Provinces of the Netherlands. He remained in Antwerp until 1575. He survived his wife with six daughters and a son of six years.

In 1554, he announced his most famous legal work in Latin. Practica rerum criminalium. It turned out that the work that brought him fame (actually it was already the 2nd edition and after Europe spread III) was largely a plagiarism, mainly, but not only, from the non-printed work of Philippe Wielant. Her initial success was due to numerous woodcut illustrations of crimes and court procedures, and in particular the part taken from the Italian Grillandi Tractatus de hereticis et sortilegiis (1536), descriptions of techniques of interrogation, torture and witch trials. Dammeriusz draws attention to his readers that there are many witches who, from lack of vigilance, do not recognize and do not chase after divination, asking for herbs for love, etc. Practices are an obvious hint of witchcraft. Witches before the hearing, recommend shaving to the bare skin and check all the natural holes of the body, because there can be hidden various amulets, making the body sensitive to pain. The book was very readable. In 1616 its seventh edition appeared. In 1625 this work, for some unspecified reasons, was placed on the church's index of banned books, so in later editions her title was changed to Praxis rerum criminalium and her last editions date back to the 18th century. The work has been translated into French, Flemish, German and In 1620 it became the basis of the Prussian Landrecht in the penalty area. In Poland, Bartłomiej Groicki used it to a large extent. Groicki also describes the ways in which witchcraft is recommended by witches, but shows great skepticism, recommends judgment, and refrains from torture without evident evidence.

Another work by Damuderius Pupillorum patrocinium (Orphanage Protection) in 1564 used the Groicki to construct his "Defense of Widows and Orphans" (1605).

In 1567, Dammerius, also using the work of Wielant, published the Praxis rerum civilum - this work was no longer successful.

wiki