Which governor dissolved the Court of Oyer and Terminer?

Governor William Phips dissolved the Court of Oyer and Terminer during the Salem witch trials. He ordered the court ended in October 1692, after it had overseen the most notorious phase of the prosecutions.

Phips had created the special court soon after arriving in Massachusetts in May 1692 to handle the large number of people held in jail on witchcraft accusations. Its chief magistrate was Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton. The court accepted spectral evidence—claims that an accused person’s invisible spirit had attacked someone—which helped produce convictions and executions.

By autumn, Phips had become increasingly concerned about the proceedings. His own wife, Mary Phips, was reportedly accused, and influential ministers, including Increase Mather, criticized reliance on spectral evidence. After Phips returned from military operations in Maine, he declared that the court “must fall.” A replacement Superior Court of Judicature convened later in 1692 and was instructed to reject spectral evidence. No further executions took place after Phips stopped the original court.