Jean Bodin (1530-1596) was a French jurist, member of the Parliament of Paris and professor of Law in Toulouse. He is considered by many to be the father of political science. He wrote several books, but the Inquisition condemned most of them because the author demonstrated evidently his sympathy for Calvinist theories, and Calvinists, called Huguenots in France were prosecuted by the Catholic church as other Protestant or Reformed Christian cults were in other Catholic countries.

His books deserved opposite opinions: some French writers were his admirer, meanwhile Francis Hutchinson was his detractor, criticising his methodology. Bodin's written works contained several allusions to witch trials and the procedures that should be followed, gaining to him the reputation of a sanguinary man.

Bodin recommended torture even in cases of invalid people and children to confirm the practice of witchcraft. He asserted that not even one witch could be erroneously condemned if the correct procedures were followed, being enough in case of suspicion to torment the accused because rumours concerning witches were almost always true.

His most famous book was his 1576 treatise Six livres de Republicque, which denounced royal absolutism, instead defining the mutual responsibilities of both king and his people.