Seduction and the law: A jewish scandal before the imperial chamber court

This chapter distinguishes between two levels of development: the legal proceedings that are well documented from the dossier of the Imperial Chamber Court and the actual reality of the situation that we can only reconstruct in part from the contradictory testimonies of 20 Jews and Christians. It follows the formal judicial proceedings of the case up to the moment of appeal to the Imperial Chamber Court and analyzes the information contained in the testimonies to arrive at a reasonable conjecture of the actual events. The chapter discusses the legal aspects of the case, from the viewpoints of Jewish law, criminal law and the appeal process to the Imperial Chamber Court. It comprises an analysis of the legal norms and practice, in light of Jewish law, criminal justice in the Holy Roman Empire, the so-called Inquisitionsprozess and appellation cases at the Court. Finding their Jewish subject guilty of seduction and encouraging false testimonies, the counts levied a large fine on Ku.