The Spirits and the Law: Vodou and Power in Haiti

William Seabrook's The Magic Island cited both the penal code and military reports as undeniable proof of Vodou practices.

“William Seabrook ' s The Magic Island , for example, cited both the penal code and military reports as undeniable proof of Vodou practices (Ramsey, 2011: 160).”

The translated version contained just three of the 413 articles that form the Haitian Code Pénal, among them the articles prohibiting les sortilèges and the use of poison to produce a state of lethargy.

“It contained just three of the 413 articles that form the Haitian Code Pénal , among them the articles prohibiting les sortilèges and the use of poison to produce a state of lethargy.”

In 1916, during the US occupation of Haiti, US gendarmerie officers working there were provided with a version of the Haitian Code Rural translated into English by Captain R. S. Hooker.

“In 1916, during the US occupation of Haiti, US gendarmerie o ffi cers working there were provided with a version of the Haitian Code Rural translated into English by Captain R. S. Hooker (Ramsey, 2011: 128).”

President Geffrard's extensions can be seen as a reaction to public discourse on the treatment of Vodou stirred up by an alleged case of ritual anthropophagy known as the affaire de Bizoton or affaire Claircine.

“President Ge ff rard ' s extensions can be seen as a reaction to public discourse on the treatment of Vodou stirred up by an alleged case of ritual anthropophagy known as the affaire de Bizoton or affaire Claircine (Ramsey, 2011: 83 -84).”

As Kate Ramsey has shown, the Haitian Code Pénal was embedded within a complex set of circumstances and discourses stemming both from colonial Saint-Domingue and post-independence nineteenth-century Haiti.

“As Kate Ramsey (2011) has shown, the Haitian Code Pénal was embedded within a complex set of circumstances and discourses stemming both from colonial Saint-Domingue and post-independence nineteenth-century Haiti.”

The 1864 extensions added by President Geffrard to the Code Pénal were explicitly aimed at putting an end to practices that 'dishonoured the nation'.

“The 1864 extensions added by President Ge ff rard to the Code Pénal were explicitly aimed at putting an end to practices that ' dishonoured the nation ' (Ramsey, 2011: 90).”