Abstract
The “modern history of criminal law”, the subject-matter this book is intended to provide an introduction to, could also be termed “contemporary history of criminal law” or “contemporary criminal history”. Thus three thematic areas are alluded to, forming concentric circles and progressing from the largest to the smallest as follows:
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Notes
- 1.
The German term “juristische Zeitgeschichte” (English: contemporary legal history) was apparently coined by Klippel; see Diethelm Klippel, Juristische Zeitgeschichte. Die Bedeutung der Rechtsgeschichte für die Zivilrechtswissenschaft (Gießener rechtswissenschaftliche Abhandlungen. 4). Gießen 1985; its common usage in legal and legal-historical discourse can be attributed to the essay collection Michael Stolleis (Ed.), Juristische Zeitgeschichte—ein neues Fach? Baden-Baden 1993 (with contributions by Diemut Majer, Joachim Rückert, Jan Schröder, Rainer Schröder, Reiner Schulze, Thomas Vormbaum, Gerhard Werle); the series Juristische Zeitgeschichte, edited by the author, is expressly concerned with contemporary legal history, as are the periodicals Jahrbuch der juristischen Zeitgeschichte (edited by the author since 1999/2000) and Journal der juristischen Zeitgeschichte (edited by the author since 2007) and the series edited by the NRW ministry of justice, Juristische Zeitgeschichte NRW.
- 2.
General secondary literature on this topic: Justizministerium Nordrhein-Westfalen (Ed.), Perspektiven und Projekte (Juristische Zeitgeschichte NRW. 2). Düsseldorf 1994 (with contributions by Klaus Bästlein, Norbert Haase, Birte E. Keppler, Helmut Kramer, Klaus Marxen, Dieter Strempel, Hans-Ulrich Thamer, Thomas Vormbaum); Wolfgang Naucke, Über protokollierende und summierende (neuere) Strafrechtsgeschichte, in: Der praktische Nutzen der Rechtsgeschichte. Hans Hattenhauer zum 8. September 2001. Heidelberg 2003, p. 353 ff.
- 3.
I am purposely avoiding the wording “particularly close in time to the observer”, for there is no unanimous answer to the question of whether contemporary history—or at least contemporary legal history—should restrict itself to a chronologically delimited period. This already refers to Senn and Gschwend’s view; on this, cf. this chapter, Section III. On the following, see also Reinhart Koselleck, Stetigkeit und Wandel aller Zeitgeschichten. Begriffsgeschichtliche Anmerkungen, in: Ibid., Zeitschichten. Studien zur Historik. Frankfurt am Main. 2000, p. 246 ff.; also p. 250 ff. on the history of the word and term “Zeitgeschichte” (contemporary history).
- 4.
On this, cf. Werner Fuchs, Biographische Forschung. Eine Einführung in Praxis und Methoden. Opladen 1984; Wolfgang Vogel (Ed.), Methoden der Biographie und Lebenslaufforschung. Opladen 1987; Peter Alheit/Erika M. Hoernig, Biographisches Wissen. Beiträge zu einer Theorie lebensgeschichtlicher Erfahrung. Frankfurt, New York 1989; Matthias Peter/Hans-Jürgen Schröder, Einführung in das Studium der Zeitgeschichte (UTB. 1742). Paderborn, Munich, Vienna, Zurich 1994, p. 55 ff. Further methodological issues are discussed in Gabriele Metzler, Einführung in das Studium der Zeitgeschichte (UTB. 2433). Paderborn, Munich, Vienna, Zurich 2004.—Apart from its “emancipatory” aspect, this approach is also coloured by a particular understanding of the value of historical sources; Koselleck notes that attempts to write “contemporary history” in all their variety from Herodotus to Churchill still share the same assumption that “[t]he incorrect testimony of a contemporary witness is still a more immediate source [than later compilations], even if it is exposed later”.
- 5.
On the history of the word and term “epoch”, cf. Hans Blumenberg, Die Epochen des Epochenbegriffs, in: Id., Aspekte der Epochenschwelle. Frankfurt a.M. 1976, p. 7 ff.—On the symbolic, rather than practical, importance of the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, cf. Hans Jürgen Lüsebrink/Rolf Reichart, Die “Bastille”. Zur Symbolgeschichte von Herrschaft und Freiheit. Frankfurt am Main 1990, p. 49 ff. Following Rudolf Vierhaus, Aufklärung und Reformzeit. Kontinuitäten und Neuansätze der deutschen Politik des späten 18. und beginnenden 19. Jahrhunderts; in: Reformen im rheinbündischen Deutschland. Ed. Eberhard Weis, assisted by Elisabeth Müller-Luckner. Munich 1984, pp. 267–301, here p. 289, “the effects produced by the French Revolution are usually exaggerated. Colossal change also took place in Germany around 1800”.
- 6.
On the following, cf. Reinhart Koselleck, Wie neu ist die Neuzeit? in: Ibid., Zeitschichten (above Fn. 3), p. 225 ff.
- 7.
On this, see Ruggiero Romano/Alberto Tenenti, Die Grundlegung der modernen Welt. Spätmittelalter, Renaissance, Reformation. (Fischer-Weltgeschichte. 12). Frankfurt am Main. 1967 (incl. many new editions), p. 25 f. (Jacquerie), 26, 61 (Florentine Ciompi), 295 ff. (German Peasant War).
- 8.
In the same year, an edict was pronounced in Aragon and Castile offering all Jews the choice between emigrating within 4 months or being baptised; on this, cf. Bernd Rother, Die iberische Halbinsel, in: Kotowski/Schoeps/Wallenborn (Eds.), Handbuch zur Geschichte der Juden in Europa. Darmstadt 2001. Vol. I, p. 325 ff., here p. 344 f.; the “modern” aspect of this event is that, following the edict, those “Conversos” whose conversion was thought to be insincere were persecuted. Their descendants were barred from many offices and professions on grounds of “purity of blood” (op. cit., p. 348).
- 9.
Of course, the term “Early Modern Period” only appeared in the nineteenth century; on this, cf. Koselleck, Neuzeit (Fn. 6), p. 227.
- 10.
Thus for example the title of the 17th volume of the 10th edition of Gebhard’s Handbuch der Deutschen Geschichte: Wolfgang J. Mommsen, Die Urkatastrophe Deutschlands. Der Erste Weltkrieg 1914–1918. Stuttgart 2002. This designation appears to derive from G.F. Kennan, without being restricted to Germany; cf. Mommsen, op. cit., p. 14, incl. further references.
- 11.
Hans Rothfels, Zeitgeschichte als Aufgabe, in: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte (VfZ) 1 (1953), p. 1 ff.
- 12.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeitgeschichte, last accessed 17 January 2012—Translator’s note: The previous version read “with the beginning of the 21st century” and was used in that form in the German original.
- 13.
Hans Ulrich Wehler, Deutsche Gesellschaftsgeschichte. 5 volumes (cf. references).
- 14.
On this, see H.J. Hirsch, Versuchstheorie, op. cit., p. 89 (text of Fn. 75).
- 15.
For further discussion of the extreme subjective theory of attempts and its connection with National Socialist doctrine of criminal law, see Hirsch, op. cit.
- 16.
Supporting evidence in H.J. Hirsch, Versuchstheorie, op. cit., p. 65 f., 89; for Italy see for example Art. 56 (2) of the Codice penale (the so-called Codice Rocco—which dates from the Fascist period!).
- 17.
The subjective theory of attempts is sometimes depicted as a consequence of the theory of personal unlawfulness. As Hirsch, himself one of the proponents of this theory of unlawfulness whilst an outspoken critic of the subjective theory of attempts, details in his contribution noted in Fn. 14, in terms of doctrine this statement is based on a misunderstanding that equates personal theory of unlawfulnesss with subjectivisation (op. cit., p. 497). Two levels become apparent here: while Hirsch’s elaborations are certainly correct as far as doctrine of criminal law and doctrinal history are concerned, seen from the broader perspective of the history of criminal law the question arises of how this misunderstanding—which, as Hirsch demonstrates, even some of the “greats” of criminal doctrine have fallen prey to (op. cit., p. 495 on Bockelmann, p. 496 on Eb. Schmidt)—fits into a historical line of development. This results in challenging and intriguing methodological consequential problems for the relationship between criminal doctrine and modern history of criminal law that unfortunately cannot be examined further here.
- 18.
On this, see Vormbaum, Lex Emminger, p. 134 ff.
- 19.
Cf. Vormbaum, Lex Emminger, p. 21 ff.
- 20.
Though tolerated by social democratic forces, e.g. Gustav Radbruch; cf. Vormbaum, op. cit.
- 21.
On this, see Hans-Ulrich Wehler, Aus der Geschichte lernen? in: Id., Aus der Geschichte lernen? Munich 1988, p. 11 ff.
- 22.
It is well known that only astronauts’ photographs, taken from vast distance, were able to show us the earth in its “connected” entirety.
- 23.
The standard work of the sociology of knowledge is: Peter L. Berger/Thomas Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality. A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge (1966). Paperback English edition, London 1980; see also the anthology of important contributions to the sociology of knowledge: Volker Meja/Nico Stehr (Eds.), Der Streit um die Wissenssoziologie. Vol. 1: Die Entwicklung der deutschen Wissenssoziologie. Vol. 2: Rezeption und Kritik der Wissenssoziologie. (Suhrkamp TB. 361). Frankfurt am Main 1982.
- 24.
However, cf. Klaus Marxen, Strafrecht nach der Überwindung zweier Unrechtsregime in Deutschland. Ein Plädoyer für eine zeithistorische Rechtsschule im Strafrecht, in: Festschrift 200 Jahre Juristische Fakultät der Humboldt-Universität Berlin. Berlin 2010; in fine. An attempt to gain further insight from this differentiation can be found in: Vormbaum, Judeneid.
- 25.
See in the first instance the reference in Vormbaum, GA 1994, p. 94.
- 26.
This controversial question, responses to which nowadays usually focus on continuity, will be discussed during the relevant part of this study.
- 27.
For detailed information on this subject, see: E.R. Huber, Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte seit 1789. Vol. V: Weltkrieg, Revolution und Reichserneuerung. Stuttgart et al. 1978, p. 388 ff.
- 28.
1870: Reich Criminal Code—1877/1879: the so-called Reichsjustizgesetze (Code of Civil Procedure, Code of Criminal Procedure, Court Organisation Act, Insolvency Act, Legal Profession Act)—1896/1900: German Civil Code—1897: revision of the General German Commercial Code (created by the German Confederation and adopted as Reich law in 1871), now the “Commercial Code”, as well as the Public Limited Companies Act in 1884 and the Limited Liability Companies Act in 1892.
- 29.
The effects of this revolution on France were similar to the effects of the 1918 revolution in Germany.
- 30.
Eb. Schmidt, SchwZStrR 1958, 341 ff.
- 31.
In passing, one should also mention that significant changes took place in the fields of literature and music: German literature at least undergoes a significant shift in terms of its quality and modernity in the middle of the eighteenth century; indeed, Schlaffer only begins his “short history of German literature” with this time (Heinz Schlaffer, Die kurze Geschichte der deutschen Literatur. Munich, Vienna 2002); at the same time, music shifts from the baroque era and its use of figured bass to the Viennese classical school. In the latter, aural perception is dominated by melody, resulting in a significant shift in ways of listening (see e.g. Herbert Rosendorfer, Don Ottavio erinnert sich. Unterhaltungen über die richtige Musik. Kassel 1989, p. 205 f.).
- 32.
This definition on the whole corresponds to what is also called history of “recent times”; on this, see Koselleck, Neuzeit (Fn. 6), p. 228; in addition to the characteristics listed in the text, he includes “exponential time graphs”, that “confirm accelerated change”: world population, speed of travel, communication technology, artistic epochs, scientific and technical innovations are updated and modernised at increasingly closer intervals.
- 33.
Thus Rudolf Vierhaus, Aufklärung und Reformzeit (as in Fn. 5), p. 288.
- 34.
Marcel Senn, JJZG 6 (2004/2005), p. 224.
- 35.
Marcel Senn/Lukas Gschwend: Rechtsgeschichte II—Juristische Zeitgeschichte. 2nd edition. Zurich 2004.
- 36.
Further discussion of the approach of Senn/Gschwend: Marcel Senn/Thomas Vormbaum, Dialog über juristische Zeitgeschichte, in: JJZG 6 (2004/2005), p. 219 ff.—That the approach of Senn/Gschwend can also be helpful in furthering the approach adopted in the present study is shown in a quote by Koselleck (who himself develops a definition of contemporary history similar to that of the two authors mentioned here): “Contemporary history, properly defined, is more than the history of our time. Only when we know what parts of history can repeat themselves (even if not all at once) will we be able to measure what really is new about our time. Perhaps less than we imagine. But it is this little that counts”; Reinhart Koselleck, Stetigkeit und Wandel aller Zeitgeschichte (as in Fn. 3), p. 246 ff., 263.
- 37.
The attempt to examine current issues in terms of their importance for posterity goes back to the beginnings of historiography (the most famous example being the Annals of Tacitus).—An attempt to document current legal issues over a 5-year period using the reports of a daily newspaper was undertaken in: Heribert Prantl/Thomas Vormbaum (Eds.), Juristisches Zeitgeschehen in der Süddeutschen Zeitung. 5 vols. (for the years 2000–2004 of the SZ). Berlin 2001–2005 (Juristische Zeitgeschichte. Section 5, vols. 9, 11, 13, 15, 17). In the present book “current legal issues” is used pragmatically to refer to developments since 1989. Later editions would, of course, have to query this categorisation, for even in 2010 over 20 years have passed since the political turning point of 1989 (a much longer period than the entire National Socialist era).
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Vormbaum, T., Bohlander, M. (2014). § 1 Delimiting the Time Period and Methodology. In: Bohlander, M. (eds) A Modern History of German Criminal Law. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37273-5_1
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