“Taxes, Lawyers, and the Decline of Witch Trials in France”, Noel D. Johnson, Mark Koyama2014-02-01 (economics, sociology)⁠:

How is rule of law established? We address this question by exploring the effect of increases in fiscal capacity on the establishment of well-enforced, formal, legal standards in a preindustrial economy.

1550^–₁₅₀1700_324ya, there were over 2,000 witch trials in France. Prosecuting a witch required local judges to substantially deviate from formal rules of evidence.

Hence, we exploit the substantial variation across time and space in witch trials and fiscal capacity across French regions 1550^–₁₅₀1700_324ya to show that increases in fiscal capacity were associated with increased adherence to the formal rule of law.

As fiscal capacity increased, local judges increasingly upheld de jure rules, and the frequency of witch trials declined.