In Massachusetts (1641):

"Witchcraft which is fellowship by covenant with a familiar spirit to
be punished with death."

"Consulters with witches not to be tolerated, but either to be cut off
by death or banishment or other suitable punishment." (_Abstract New
England Laws_, 1655.)

In Connecticut (1642):

"If any man or woman be a witch--that is, hath or consulteth with a
familiar spirit--they shall be put to death." Exodus xxii, 18; Leviticus
xx, 27; Deuteronomy xviii, 10, 11. (_Colonial Records of Connecticut_,
Vol. I, p. 77).

In New Haven (1655):

"If any person be a witch, he or she shall be put to death according to"
Exodus xxii, 18; Leviticus xx, 27; Deuteronomy xviii, 10, 11. (_New
Haven Colonial Records_, Vol. II, p. 576, Cod. 1655).

These laws were authoritative until the epidemic had ceased.

Witches were tried, condemned, and executed with no question as to due
legal power, in the minds of juries, counsel, and courts, until the hour
of reaction came, hastened by doubts and criticisms of the sources and
character of evidence, and the magistrates and clergy halted in their
prosecutions and denunciations of an alleged crime born of delusion, and
nurtured by a theology run rampant.