Laws Against Witchcraft in the 21st Century

For those who still believe the persecution of alleged witches belongs to the Middle Ages…

Witchcraft has today become an umbrella term for a wide and often diffuse spectrum of practices. In early Europe, this was not the case: there existed a range of relatively distinct traditions. There were cultic forms centered around Diana and related ritual communities; Great Britain developed its own coven structures and saw the emergence of Wicca in the twentieth century; Italy preserves traditions of Aradia and stregheria, often linked to older, possibly Etruscan layers. Germany had its sabbat traditions associated with the “Blocksberg” mountains, while in Basque regions witchcraft merged with older religious forms. Eastern and Northern Europe also maintained their own variants. In many cases, the boundary between witchcraft, shamanism, and herbal medicine was minimal or entirely absent.

 

 

Leaders of the political-religious narrative are often afraid of “witches”

That ambiguity persists to this day. In parts of the world, practices that elsewhere are considered folk medicine or spiritual tradition are legally redefined as criminal acts. In countries such as Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, individuals have in recent history been convicted or executed for “witchcraft” or “sorcery.”

At the same time, other states have enacted laws aimed specifically at prohibiting accusations of witchcraft, in an effort to reduce violence and persecution. Globally—with South America largely as an exception—such legal frameworks continue to exist, and in some cases have even been tightened in recent years, as in Libya or the United Arab Emirates.

When these laws are placed in historical perspective, what stands out above all is their continuity. From the river ordeal in the Code of Hammurabi to modern criminal legislation, the same pattern recurs: the regulation and control of practices that fall outside recognized religious or institutional frameworks.

Equally striking is the shift in legal framing. Whereas witchcraft in earlier legislation was treated as a real and dangerous phenomenon, later periods increasingly recast it as deception or fraud. The Witchcraft Act of 1735 is a well-known example: no longer the supposed magic itself, but the claim to such power became punishable. The underlying dynamic—regulation and sanction—remained intact.

What emerges from this overview are three consistent patterns:

• a recurring tension surrounding individuals operating outside established systems of knowledge and authority
• a structural distrust of alternative forms of knowledge and practice
• a persistent tendency to codify this tension in law, ranging from criminal prosecution to regulation as fraud

Seen in this light, the following overview of laws against witchcraft is not merely a historical curiosity, but an indicator of how societies respond to divergent forms of knowledge, power, and meaning.

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Laws against witchcraft

Code of Hammurabi

The second article of the Code of Hammurabi stated:

If anyone accuses someone else of sorcery, the accused shall jump into a river, and if they drown the accuser shall take possession of the accused’s house and their belongings.

Code of Ur-Nammu

Article 13 stated:

If a man is accused of sorcery [translation disputed], he must undergo ordeal by water; if he is proven innocent, his accuser must pay 3 shekels.

Hittite laws

The Code of the Nesilim had one paragraph prescribing an unspecified penalty:

[If] anyone forms clay for [an image] (for magical purposes), it is sorcery and a case for the king’s court.

Assyrian law

If a man or a woman practice sorcery, and they are caught with it in their hands, they shall be prosecuted and convicted. The practitioner of magic shall be put to death.

Old Testament

Laws prohibiting various forms of witchcraft and divination can be found in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. These include the following (as translated in the Revised JPS, 2023):

Exodus 22:18 – “You shall not tolerate a sorceress [Biblical Hebrew: מְכַשֵּׁפָ֖ה, romanized: mək̲aššēp̄ā].”

Leviticus 19:26 – “You shall not eat anything with its blood. You shall not practice divination or soothsaying [תְנַחֲשׁ֖וּ וְלֹ֥א תְעוֹנֵֽנוּ tənaḥăšu wəlo t̲əʿonēnu].”

Leviticus 20:27 – “A man or a woman who has a ghost or a familiar spirit [א֛וֹב א֥וֹ יִדְּעֹנִ֖י ob̲ o yiddəʿoni] shall be put to death; they shall be pelted with stones—and the bloodguilt is theirs.”

Deuteronomy 18:10–11 – “Let no one be found among you who consigns a son or daughter to the fire, or who is an augur, a soothsayer, a diviner, a sorcerer, one who casts spells, or one who consults ghosts or familiar spirits, or one who inquires of the dead [דֹרֵ֖שׁ אֶל־הַמֵּתִֽים dorēš el-hammēt̲im].”

United Kingdom

Religious tensions in England during the 16th and 17th centuries resulted in the introduction of severe penalties for witchcraft. Henry VIII’s Witchcraft Act of 1541 (33 Hen. 8. c. 8) was the first to define witchcraft as a felony, punishable by death and forfeiture of goods and property.

The Witchcraft Act of 1735 (9 Geo. 2 c. 5) marked a complete reversal. Penalties for witchcraft as traditionally understood—by then considered by many to be an impossible crime—were replaced by penalties for the pretence of witchcraft. Anyone claiming to summon spirits, foretell the future, cast spells, or locate stolen goods could be punished as a vagrant and a fraud, subject to fines and imprisonment. The Act applied throughout Great Britain and repealed both the 1563 Scottish act and the 1604 English act.

The Witchcraft Act of 1735 remained in force well into the 20th century, until it was repealed by the Fraudulent Mediums Act of 1951.

The Fraudulent Mediums Act of 1951 was itself repealed on 26 May 2008 by new consumer protection regulations following an EU directive on unfair commercial practices.

Russian Empire

At the church council of 1551, the Russian Orthodox Church requested that Tsar Ivan the Terrible persecute paganism and introduce the death penalty for pagans such as sorcerers, astrologers, and fortune tellers. Ivan did not introduce the death penalty for sorcery, but he banned the use of magic and authorized secular courts to prosecute it as a crime.

In a decree of 1648, Tsar Alexis introduced the death penalty for all forms of paganism such as sorcery, and a new decree in 1653 specified death by burning.

Tsar Peter the Great retained the death penalty for sorcery in the law of 1716. In 1731, Empress Anna legally redefined sorcery as a form of fraud but did not remove the death penalty. Empress Catherine the Great later made clear that the death penalty should no longer be applied to those convicted of such fraud, and from 1775 transferred such cases to “courts of conscience” (sovestnye sudy), which handled minor offenses such as superstition.

The last documented witch trials in Russia took place in the 1860s.

Sweden

Magic was gradually legalized in Sweden. Witchcraft, once punishable by death, was removed from the penal code in 1779. Fortune-telling and magical healing remained classified as superstition until 1864, when they were redefined as fraud, a classification that remained until 1942.

Denmark

In 1686, local courts were forbidden from carrying out executions without confirmation from the national high court. The last person legally executed for sorcery in Denmark was the grenadier Johan Pistorius in 1722. Laws against witchcraft were repealed in 1866.

Nazi Germany

In 1934, the Nazis outlawed fortune-telling and made the publication of almanacs or astrological journals illegal.

Australia

New South Wales adopted the British Witchcraft Act of 1735 and only repealed it in 1969. Laws against fortune-telling were repealed in 1979.

Canada

Canada repealed its Witchcraft Act in 2018.

New Zealand

While still applying the 1735 Witchcraft Act, New Zealand passed the Tohunga Suppression Act in 1907, banning local healers. This act was repealed by the Maori Welfare Act in 1962. The Witchcraft Act itself was repealed in 1961 with the Crimes Act.

United States

States and municipalities that formerly had laws against fortune-telling include: Michigan (1931–1993), Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana (1971–2000), Petoskey, Michigan (?–2022), Huntington, West Virginia (?–2024), Savannah, Georgia (1945–1974, now requiring a license), Front Royal, Virginia (?–2014), and Norfolk, Virginia (1979–2024).

Modern laws

Witchcraft-related laws by country:

• Practice of magic is illegal
• Using witchcraft against another person is illegal
• Accusing someone of being a witch is illegal
• Pretending to be a witch and accusing someone is illegal
• Practice of fortune-telling is illegal
• Law repealed

As of June 2025, the following countries have provisions prohibiting witchcraft or its use against others: Algeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, and Gambia.

Pretending to be a witch or accusing someone of witchcraft is illegal in Botswana, Eswatini, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Indonesia, the Solomon Islands, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain (since 2010), Qatar (since 2015), Libya (House of Representatives, since 2024), Afghanistan, and Brunei prohibit the use of “supernatural powers,” “magic,” or “black magic.”

The following countries prohibit only accusations of witchcraft: Democratic Republic of the Congo, India (state laws), and Nepal.

Afghanistan

Since the Taliban came to power, the death penalty has been introduced for “sorcery.”

Australia

Fortune-telling remains a crime in the Northern Territory and South Australia.

Saudi Arabia

In 2011, Saudi Arabia executed Muree bin Ali Al Asiri for sorcery and witchcraft after he was found in possession of books and talismans.

Also in 2011, Amina bint Abdul Halim bin Salem Nasser was executed by beheading for the crimes of “witchcraft and sorcery.”

Cameroon

Article 251 of the Cameroon Penal Code provides a penalty of two to ten years for using witchcraft against another person. If such use results in death, the penalty is life imprisonment.

Central African Republic

Under the 2009 penal code, witchcraft is a criminal offense punishable by five to ten years’ imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 to 1,000,000 CFA. Until 2009, it was punishable by death.

Nearly 60% of women held in Bimbo women’s prison in Bangui between January 2020 and June 2021 were charged with witchcraft offenses. The average age of the accused is 55.

India

In 2001, the state of Jharkhand passed the Witch Hunting Practices Act, prohibiting accusations of witchcraft. Similar laws exist in Bihar, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Karnataka.

New Zealand

Section 16 of the Summary Offences Act 1981 provides a fine of one thousand dollars for anyone who, for payment, claims to possess telepathy or clairvoyance or acts as a medium using “fraudulent devices.” It is not an offense if done solely for entertainment.

Nigeria

The Criminal Code Act prohibits fortune-telling as a form of witchcraft. Anyone who undertakes to tell fortunes may be convicted of a misdemeanor and imprisoned for up to one year.

Pakistan

In 2025, a law was proposed banning black magic. In January 2026, it was passed by the senate.

Tajikistan

Since 2008, fortune-telling has been illegal.

South Africa

The Witchcraft Suppression Act of 1957 was introduced to consolidate existing laws and increase penalties.

The following offenses may result in a fine of up to 200,000 rand or imprisonment for up to five years, or both:

• Employing or consulting a witch-finder or similar person to identify a supposed witch
• Claiming knowledge of witchcraft and advising how to harm another
• Carrying out actions believed to cause harm based on such claims

Tanzania

The Witchcraft Act of 2002 prohibits witchcraft, with a minimum penalty of five years, or at least seven years in cases involving intent to harm.

United States

In North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, all forms of fortune-telling are illegal.

Maryland

Fortune-telling and palm reading are illegal in Baltimore. Offenders may be fined $500 or imprisoned for up to one year.

A ban in Montgomery County was struck down by the courts, which ruled that fortune-telling is protected under free speech.

New York

Under New York State law, a person is guilty of fortune-telling when, for a fee or compensation, they claim or pretend to tell fortunes.