The peculiar and little-known institution of the parish priest's assistants was mentioned in three significant collections of law in the 17th century. Drawing on findings in my PhD-thesis I propose that this institution may have functioned in a somewhat different way before and after Danish law, and I will emphasize how Rasmus Vinding made it a part of the criminal legislation in Danish Code. In addition, I would suggest that Vinding also retrieved several criminal law categories for his Danish code from the parish priest's assistants' catalogues of sin.