Motive rather than means. Legal genealogies of witch-killing cases in Kenya

ABSTRACT IN ENGLISH: This article traces the legal genealogies of witchcraft claims and counter-claims within the legal arena of colonial Kenya. Based on cases contained in the files of Kenya's Ministry of Legal Affairs and in the digests of the Supreme Court of Kenya and of the High Court of Appeal for Eastern Africa, this article argues that the witchcraft claims and counter-claims made in East Africa's highest courts contributed to the refinement of the legal meanings of witchcraft and to the elaboration of legal concepts central to the prosecution of capital crimes. This article treats murder cases in which witchcraft is posed not as the means but instead as the motive for the murder at hand as a central space in which notions of 'customs' and 'crimes' collide. In such cases, the alleged 'witch' is not on trial for witchcraft or for another crime committed through witchcraft per se, but is instead the decedent in the murder being tried. The defendant, in turn, is on trial not for a murder committed through witchcraft but rather for a murder motivated by the witchcraft turned against him or her by the decedent. And, in such witchcraft operates variously as a claims-making strategy of the defense and as a means for the courts to consider further standards of 'reasonableness' in local contexts. Yet at the same time, defense claims and the courts' counter-claims about the witchcraft of the decedent each operate on a broader epistemological level, calling into question not only essential categories like 'victim' and even 'murder', but also key legal concepts such as 'provocation' and 'malice aforethought'. // ABSTRACT IN FRENCH: Cet article retrace la généalogie des demandes en justice et des demandes reconventionnelles liées à la sorcellerie au Kenya à lépoque coloniale. En s'appuyant sur les minutes des procès conservés dans les Archives du ministère kenyan des Affaires juridiques ainsi que sur les comptes rendus de la Cour Suprême du Kenya et de la Haute Cour d'Appel pour l'Afrique orientale, cet article montre que les demandes en justice et les demandes reconventionnelles ont contribué à une définition juridique plus précise de la « sorcellerie » et à l'élaboration de concepts essentiels au jugement des crimes capitaux. Cet article traite d'affaires de meurtre dans lesquelles la sorcellerie n'est pas présentée comme le moyen mais comme le motif du meurtre jugé et comme un espace central où se heurtent les notions de « coutumes » et de « crime ». Dans ce