On May 14th Increase Mather returned from England bringing with him a new charter and the new governor Sir. William Phips. The old charter had been changed several times since it had been first issued in the early 1600s because many colonists had complained to the King of England that the Puritan laws were too strict. When Phips learned that the jails were full of Witches he ordered that the trials begin at once. (There had been no trials earlier because the colony's charter had expired.)
On May 27th Phips set up a special court, to listen to the Witchcraft cases, called the Court of Oyer (to hear) and Terminer (to decide). The Court of Oyer and Terminer consisted of seven judges: Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton, Nathaniel Saltonstall, Bartholomew Gedney, Peter Sergeant, Samuel Sewall, Wait Still Winthrop and John Richards. Hathorne and Corwin were still expected to continue their hearings for the suspects of Salem Village.
Phips left for a Canadian expedition and left Deputy Governor William Stoughton in charge of the court. Stoughton decided that a jury of twelve male church members should be selected to hear the evidence and decide on the suspects' fate. The jurors were: John Batcheler, John Dane, Andrew Eliot, Joseph Evelith, Thomas Fisk (foreman), Thomas, Jr. Fisk, William Fisk, Henry, Sr. Herrick, Thomas, Sr. Peabody, Thomas Perkins, Thomas, Sr. Pearly, and Samuel Sayer. The trials were to be held at the Salem Town Courthouse. These jurors were to base their judgments and evaluations on various kinds of intangible evidence. This included direct confessions, supernatural attributes (such as "Witch Marks"), reactions from the afflicted girls, and villager testimonies from past incidences. Spectral evidence, based on the assumption that the Devil could assume the "specter" of an innocent person, was also relied upon despite its controversial nature.
On May 31st Hathorne, Corwin and Gedney examined Martha Carrier, John Alden, Wilmott Redd, Elizabeth Howe and Philip English. On June 2 the initial session of the Court of Oyer and Terminer was held, during which Bridget Bishop became the first to be pronounced guilty of Witchcraft and sentence to death by hanging. Soon after Bridget Bishop's trial, Nathaniel Saltonstall resigned from court because he was dissatisfied with its proceedings.
