In the 19th century, and beyond, the sense of sacredness, which imbues judicial rituals, was redoubled by a religious imprint, expressed through the reference to God, implicit or explicit, in the oath taken by jury members and witnesses, and by the presence of crucifixes in the courts. The oath created a number of problems : Quakers and Anabaptists refused to swear ; Jews refused the Judaic ritual the institution had imposed ; Free Thinkers demanded that the name of God be taken out of the oath taken at criminal proceedings. The Cour de Cassation (Highest Court of Appeal) ruled in favour of dissident Protestants and Jews. But, during the Third Republic, for fear of atheism, the Legislator, whose collaboration was essential to the modification of the Codes of procedure, refused to empty the oath of its reference to God, a reference maintained until 1972. As for the crucifixes, they were taken out of the courts through simple regulation in 1904.