There actually was! Kind of.

The legal process of 17th century New England was fairly established by 1692. First, an accusation had to be made. Complaints by the afflicted accusers were often filed by their fathers, other relatives, or community members. For all legal conflicts, accusers had to post bond to ensure that they were not making frivolous accusations. However, the judges did not enforce this during the witchcraft crisis until the new governor stepped in. The legal case was that the victims had been "Tortured Afflicted Consumed Pined Wasted and Tormented." After that, the accused were apprehended by the Constable. Then, there would be a preliminary hearing or deposition, where the accused were questioned. At this point, any other accusations of witchcraft against them would come forth, as well as any testimony for or against them. Typically, spectral evidence would be provided by the afflicted accusers, as well as a touch test. In a touch test, the afflicted accusers would go into fits that could supposedly only be cured by the touch of whoever is afflicting them. This evidence would then be used at a grand jury hearing, where they would either be formally indicted or released by 18 jurors. Finally, the accused would go to a trial, with a jury consisting of 12 "honest and lawful" freemen who held estates worth at least 50 pounds. No one had attorneys, though that was the norm for the time.

New England society was especially litigious at the time, so the average villager, no matter sex or socio-economic status, would likely be familiar with the workings of the legal system. That being said, the testimonies at many of the trials were made in duress. Samuel Parris was rumored to have beat Tituba in order to extract a confession. Margaret Jacobs later recanted her confession, saying "...they told me [that] if I would not confess I should be put down into the dungeon and would be hanged; but if I would confess I should have my life." At the depositions, the accused were often badgered with questions about their relationships with Satan.

For the first few months of the crisis, there were no actual trials. The New England colony had lost its charter in 1689, and with it, its formal government. Thus, no trials could occur. Early accused people, like Tituba, had to wait in jail after their indictment by the Grand Jury. Only when William Phips was appointed governor and the charter reissued in May of 1692 could the trials occur. Governor Phips set up the Court of Oyer and Terminer specifically for witchcraft trials.

Once the trials began, there were obvious conflicts of interest. The mother in law of Judge Jonathan Corwin was accused, and he did not recuse himself for the case. Some historians have suggested that Samuel Parris was a court transcriber in addition to his role as Salem's minister, a staunch supporter of the trials, and the father and uncle to two of the afflicted accusers. That would be another conflict of interest.

The court of Oyer and Terminer also seemed to have a presumption of guilt; they found 27 out of 28 cases guilty. During an earlier witchcraft crisis in New England, a court only had 8 guilty verdicts out of 31 cases.

In the defense of Governor Phips, it did seem like he wanted fair trial or at least to be seen as wanting them. As previously mentioned, he only became the governor in May and the crisis had begun in January. Once appointed, he immediately set up the special court of Oyer and Terminer to work through the backlog of witchcraft cases. The man he chose as Chief Justice was the Deputy Governor and "the rest were persons of the best prudence and figure that could then be pitched upon," according to Phips's letter from October 12, 1692, to the Clerk of the Privy Council in London. Phips then left to the Maine Frontier on August 1st. If Phip's letter is to be believed, once he returned, he saw that the trials had been unjust and immediately shut down the court of Oyer and Terminer. Coincidentally, Phips's wife had just been accused of witchcraft. After that, Phip's created a new court that was forbidden from using spectral evidence. Everyone who was sentenced to be executed by the new court was then pardoned by Phips and the crisis came to an end.