Vehm-Gerichte
A secret tribunal which during the Middle Ages exercised a peculiar jurisdiction in Germany and especially in Westphalia. Its origin is quite uncertain. The sessions were often held in secret, and the uninitiated were forbidden to attend them on pain of death. The most absurd stories have been circulated concerning them, that they met in underground chambers and so forth. These have been discounted by modern research. Far from dabbling in the occult, these courts frequently punished persons convicted of witchcraft and sorcery.