GLOSSAE. European Journal of Legal History

The Making of insane offenders in the Western Tradition

2023-10-16T09:22:27+02:00

Pendiente

Insanity and criminal justice in Italy at the end of the 19th century

2023-10-16T09:34:31+02:00

The Italian penal code of 1889 introduced the concept of “mental infirmity” to circumscribe the hypotheses of non-punishability linked to the lack of consciousness or freedom of one's acts at the time the criminal action was committed. The practical application of this rule required energetic intervention by the jurisprudence of legitimacy to circumscribe the exemption from punishment to the mere existence of pathological states and exclude it from passionate states.

Criminal justice and abnormals at the end of the 19th century in Belgium

2023-10-16T09:38:37+02:00

The late 19th century was characterized in Belgium by the emergence of a new discourse of truth on crime and criminal that emphasized the threat posed by the ‘dangerous individual’ to society as a whole. The insane criminal, associated with abnormality and dangerousness, was rapidly considered as one of the categories to be controlled. As early as 1930, a social defence law created a special internment regime for these lunatics who escaped criminal punishment due to their mental deficiency. Recidivists, who were closely associated with the ‘abnormals’, were targeted by the same text. In both cases, the regime introduced in 1930 reflects the influence of the social defence doctrine, which, under the influence of Adolphe Prins, sought an eclectic compromise between the classical school principles and the new penology of positivistic obedience.

Insane Offenders, Dangerous Criminals, Criminal Responsibility and Security Measures

2023-10-16T09:41:56+02:00

The chapter studies the concept of the ‘insane offender’ from the angle of the positivist criminology network that formed around Franz von Liszt and the International Union of Penal Law and investigates its effect on the reform of criminal law in imperial Germany. The influence of criminological positivism on penal reform will be analyzed from the historical perspective of intertwined national and international arenas of positivist criminology and forensic psychology that produced criminological normativity and influenced attempts to change the German penal code. A main focus is on the major figure of German positivist criminology and the International Union of Criminal Law: Franz von Liszt, who served as an intellectual focal point in the formation of the concepts of ‘insane offenders’, ‘dangerous criminals’ and ‘security measures’ and who partly transformed them into juridical categories that were to serve the ideas of positivist criminology. Franz von Liszt and the positivist criminology network discussed the relation between insane and dangerous/habitual offenders and, more generally, between mental illness and crime with the intention to implement the resulting concepts and categories into criminal law. This chapter outlines these discussions on diminished criminal responsibility and related security measures and discusses to which extent they were rejected or integrated into the reform of the German penal code.

The insane offender in Austrian penal legislation and legal science around 1900

2023-10-16T09:52:55+02:00

The contribution deals with the discussion about the insane offender in the Habsburg Monarchy from the 1860s – when work on a new codification of criminal law began – to the end of the First World War, when the reform plans finally failed. Different questions are addressed: After analyzing the legislative solutions for coping with insane offenders which were envisaged in the drafts, the paper will examine in more detail whether and how Austrian legal scholars commented on and discussed these plans. It will be shown to what extent international discussions and above all developments in the neighbouring German Empire were taken into account. In general, controversial points in the so-called "clash of schools" (Schulenstreit) between the "classical" and the "positivist" schools played a significant role in the scientific debate of insanity, for example the question of free human will or the purpose of punishment. The remarkable, philanthropic theses of Julius Vargha, which, however, met with rejection among his contemporaries, are dealt with separately.

The Hybridization of Punishment and Welfare: The legal treatment of insane offenders in Switzerland 1890–1970

2023-10-16T09:58:57+02:00

This chapter deals with the treatment of insane offenders in Switzerland between the late 19th century and the 1960s, and how it became part of the legal policy agenda. The implementation of the Swiss criminal code after it came into force in 1942 is also examined. From the onset, Swiss psychiatrists were important players in drafting the first Swiss criminal code. Together with other progressives, they developed a set of measures based on earlier forms of administrative detention, while simultaneously advocating important demands of legal positivism aimed at protecting society. This hybrid broke through the traditional demarcation between repression and prevention, at legal, institutional and individual levels. The new Swiss criminal code of 1942, similarly, was a hybrid between repression and welfare provisions in its security and treatment measures. Psychiatry thereby became part of the correctional system, while the majority of mentally ill offenders ended up, de facto, in penal institutions. This led offenders to often be stigmatised as abnormal in criminal proceedings; they were imprisoned for indeterminate periods of time and had little or limited access to psychiatric care. Criminal law thereby became more open to prevention and protection considerations, and hence to public welfare concerns. In retrospect, however, the development is part of an unfinished and inherently ambivalent modernisation process, and an example of the “muddling through” typical of how marginalized groups are dealt with in federalist Switzerland.

Legislating for deviancy in the shadows

2023-10-18T16:15:27+02:00

The current article analyses the Spanish legislation regarding the treatment of insane offenders. In this normative study, various legal sources have been outlined: criminal codes, decrees, royal decrees, royal orders, ministerial orders, the War Navy Code, and the Code of Military Justice, among others. However, this approach tries to put legislation in context, since most of the evolution of the legislation is due to doctrine and case-law. Indeed, the fundamental change takes place in 1931, but this must be put into perspective and connected to the often forgotten, aforementioned sources of the law.

The rise of dangerousness in the Spanish criminal law (1870-1931)

2023-10-18T16:20:05+02:00

Positivistic theories defended that criminals had no responsibility of their acts because they were notably determined by their inclinations. Such theories were received not only in social sciences, but also – and above all – in the medical sciences. This article describes how the criminal responsibility of insane offenders became controversial in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Spain due to the reception of the positivistic school in Europe. In doing so, doctrinal sources and scholarly controversies between medical experts and criminal lawyers are studied (1870-1931).

Insane and dangerous offenders, positivism, and social defence in Portuguese law between 1852 and 1936

2023-10-18T16:24:33+02:00

This study delves into the influence of positivism on Portuguese criminal law between 1852 and 1936, particularly concerning the treatment of dangerous offenders, specifically those who are insane. The positivist doctrine challenged the classical notion of criminal justice based on free will, asserting that offenders are abnormal individuals, influenced by physical, anthropological, and social factors. The text examines the evolution of medical-psychiatric research and the positivist understanding of criminal justice, highlighting the shift towards treating dangerous offenders through security measures. The legal response to insane offenders, criminal responsibility, serving prison sentences, and the treatment of other classes of offenders is explored within this positivist framework, emphasizing the interplay between mental abnormality, criminal acts, and social defence strategies.

The issue of the insane offender at the beginning of 20th century in Poland

2023-10-18T16:33:18+02:00

The purpose of this article is to investigate the institution of insanity and the provisions on insane offenders in the Polish Penal Code of 1932. Developing those norms was part of a major and lengthy legislative process of state penal reform in the first part of the 20th century. Poland was a rising state at that time, having just regained independence after more than 100 years of being incorporated into its neighbouring countries. Thus, the paper will examine the insane offender issue in a broader context in relation to general penal reform, the state of the society and the level of legal culture of the country under transition. Similarly to all of Europe, Poland was affected by a clash of the classical and positivist schools of law. The aim of the article is to examine the ideological and axiological base for insane offender regulations and to investigate whether the positivist notions making waves in Europe at the time influenced the Polish Penal Code, and if so, to what extent. Whether they prevailed and insanity was treated from a modern perspective or they remained rather conservative. This article will also touch upon the topic of foreign impact on the Polish Penal Code and certain country-specific provisions. It is worth mentioning that regulations from the Code of 1932 lay at the base of current legal solutions in the area of criminal liability of mentally impaired offenders.

Social Defence Measures and Insanity: Problems and Solutions

2023-10-18T16:42:08+02:00

The influence of sociological law theory on the criminal law of the RSFSR1 and the USSR resulted in introduction of the concept of social defence. Several legal acts and draft criminal codes reflected the idea of “dangerousness of a person” as a general category. Soon after, however, scholars began to draw more attention to particular categories of dangerous offenders, and different psychiatric issues were discussed. It was clear that social defence measures against sane and insane offenders could not be the same, but many questions were left unresolved. Lawmakers soon removed the most extreme concepts of sociological law thought, which were adopted in the early 1920s. Nevertheless, a connection between insane and juvenile offenders and the idea of social defence has persisted and some unresolved questions remain almost exactly the same. Insanity and related issues remain some of the most difficult theoretical obstacles in contemporary Russian criminal law.

"Houses Destined for Them" [casas para elles destinadas]: Insane Offenders, the Article 12 of the 1830 Brazilian Criminal Code and the Question of the Predecessors of Security Measures

2023-10-18T16:54:49+02:00

The first decades of the 20th century are a landmark in the history of security measures. Why? Would much earlier preventive measures be able to backdate the history of security measures? If we want a legal history capable of analyzing its objects in their proper contexts, it is reasonable to preserve the landmark of the early 20th century. One of the possible contexts for the legal historian analysis is that of legal culture in its part constituted by specialized intellectual debate. Thereby, we can determine the disclosure of security measures as a problem for the legal culture. It requires an analysis of the status of the antecedents of security measures. Concerning Brazilian legislation, the best example of a predecessor is article 12 of the 1830 Criminal Code: a rather singular article in the legislative scenario of the early 19th century and interpreted differently along the century. By emphasizing the shifts and relocation of frontiers that occur when the security measure becomes an issue for legal science, we can challenge the memory created by several Brazilian jurists around security measures, constituted by the ideology of novelty and the unceasing quest for predecessors.

Between Impunity and Treatment Orders: Mental Illness and its Legal Consequences on Argentine Criminal Codification and its Legal Culture (1877–1921)

2023-10-19T16:33:50+02:00

The aim of this paper is to reconstruct in a historiographical way the legal responses of the Argentine penal codification in cases of crimes committed by the mentally ill. The chosen periodization is connected to normative formulations: in 1877 the province of Buenos Aires adopted the draft Criminal Code elaborated by Carlos Tejedor and in 1921 the current Criminal Code came into force. However, our analysis was to understand the legal culture of that society beyond the legal texts. For this purpose, we used a wide range of sources: norms; legal doctrine analysis; doctoral theses; Criminal Code reform projects; readings of foreign authors by the actors of that time, etc. This paper consists of three parts. Firstly, we analyze the situation that goes from the provincial adoptions of the national projects until the sanction of the Criminal Code of 1886. In this sense, Tejedor’s draft Criminal Code and the Ugarriza - Villegas - García draft – for the case of Córdoba were predominant. Secondly, we explore the criticisms that arose as soon as the Criminal Code of 1886 came into force. Thirdly, we analyze what happened regarding the mentally ill in the Criminal Code of 1921, still in force in Argentina with uncountable reforms.

The last attempt of regulating insane offenders in Argentina: The Draft Penal Code elaborated by Eusebio Gómez and Jorge Eduardo Coll in 1938

2023-10-19T16:46:34+02:00

Criminological positivism had an enormous repercussion and impact on criminal law in Argentina, although it is true that its postulates, although accepted by a large number of criminologists, did not manage to cross the walls of libraries and study rooms, being relegated to the academic world. However, there was a draft penal code drawn up by Eusebio Gómez and Jorge Eduardo Coll that was built on the principles of criminological positivism, which is why we have decided to rescue and study it. In this specific case, we have focused on the regulation of insane offenders, which were not only regulated in greater detail than in previous codes or projects, but were also placed in relation to dangerousness, which demonstrates not only the positivist affiliation of this draft code, but also the importance that the authors gave to the regulation of insane offenders in the interests of the criminal justice system.

Challenges to legalism in early modern continental civil law

2023-10-20T08:45:39+02:00

Legalism can denote the range of functions that laws have in any society, but in legal discourse from classical times to the modern day, it has also had, as well as the self-justificatory practice of regimes seeking to establish their legitimacy, negative connotations of a perverse use of the written text of the law in legal argument. In the medieval and early modern periods, in which civil law is considered to be determined by the higher norms of rationality, morality, and the public good, the terms strictum ius and rigor iuris evoke the danger of over-literal and inflexible understanding of the text of the law, and the need in many cases for its mitigation. This was achieved by the use of techniques for construing the text enshrined in the Corpus Juris Civilis itself and elaborated by the use of scholastic logic. Recourse was made to a range of principles in order to mitigate or correct a given law, including aequitas, bona fides, utilitas, consuetudo and honestas. With the exception of the last, these are not necessarily to be looked on as extra-legal. This paper investigates the deployment of these norms or principles by a range of early modern jurists (including Arnoldus Holstein, Claudius Cantiuncula, Jean de Coras, and Johan van der Sande). It argues that there is a strong continuity of legal thinking in these areas from the medieval to the early modern period. Where relevant, parallel cases in the sphere of theology (antinomianism, adiaphora) are discussed.

La Carta de Franquezas de Menorca de 30 de agosto de 1301

2023-10-20T08:57:57+02:00

El artículo analiza la carta de franquezas otorgada a la isla de Menorca el 30 de agosto de 1301, en el contexto de las reformas establecidas por el rey Jaime II durante la segunda fase de su reinado. A partir del estudio sistemático de sus disposiciones se reconstruyen los principales aspectos del orden jurídico que el monarca autoritariamente quiso instituir en la isla balear.

La limitación de la responsabilidad del armador, del hostelero y del explotador de una cuadra por los daños causados (o hurtos cometidos) por su personal

2023-10-20T09:11:16+02:00

El trabajo analiza el problema de la limitación de responsabilidad de armadores, hosteleros y explotadores de cuadras en el Derecho romano clásico y en la literatura pandectística. En el derecho romano clásico esta limitación se aplicaba en aquellos casos en los que un esclavo (o un hijo sujeto a patria potestad) había decidido por su cuenta el ejercicio de estas actividades empresariales, sin el consentimiento del amo o del padre. El Edicto imponía una responsabilidad especialmente amplia a quienes ejercían estos oficios con el fin de proteger a la clientela en frente a daños materiales o hurtos. Los juristas romanos tuvieron que resolver el problema de cómo equilibrar la protección de las víctimas con la necesaria limitación de la responsabilidad del amo o del padre por las decisiones empresariales adoptadas por su cuenta por los esclavos o los hijos sujetos a potestad. En la pandectística esta tradición debe adaptarse a un nuevo concepto en el que ya no hay esclavos que ejerciten actividades empresariales por su cuenta ni hijos de familia privados totalmente de capacidad patrimonial. La adaptación es un ejercicio muy complejo en el que los estudiosos deberán navegar entre las necesidades de la práctica y las conclusiones de una exégesis histórica de los textos romanos.

El factor de la scientia fraudis en la revocatoria del fraus creditorum: fundamentos romanistas de su previsión en el Código civil de Bello

2023-10-20T09:22:13+02:00

Previas consideraciones sobre los mecanismos revocatorios dirigidos a contrastar el fraus creditorum en las fuentes jurídicas romanas, la presente investigación tiene la finalidad de reconstruir el iter histórico del factor de la scientia fraudis en la concesión de la llamada acción Pauliana, desde el Derecho romano hasta su incorporación en el Código civil de Andrés Bello. Esta reglamentación se caracterizó por requerir la scientia fraudis del tercero adquiriente para rescindir los actos a título oneroso, mientras que, para aquellos a título gratuito - lucrativo era suficiente el consilium fraudis del deudor y así evitar un enriquecimiento injustificado en el adquiriente, en detrimento de los acreedores del fraudator (eventus damni). De esta forma se comprenderá la influencia del razonamiento que surgió en el Derecho romano para la aplicación histórica del factor de la scientia fraudis en la dogmática jurídica moderna inherente a la revocatoria del fraus creditorum.

Las Elegantiae de Lorenzo Valla y los juristas del siglo XVI

2023-10-20T09:33:46+02:00

Este artículo analiza la recepción de las Elegantiae de Valla en los juristas del siglo XVI. Este tema nunca ha sido estudiado sistemáticamente y aquí se propone una perspectiva general buscando las referencias a las Elegantiae de Valla en las obras jurídicas. El artículo intenta responder a tres preguntas: 1) ¿Qué juristas citaron a Valla?; 2) ¿qué orientación tenían estos juristas?; y 3) ¿en qué tipo de obras mencionaron los juristas a Valla? Tras el examen de más de cuatrocientas obras jurídicas impresas del siglo XVI, se propone una clasificación temática, con el fin de mostrar la compleja recepción de las Elegantiae de Valla entre los juristas.

Privilegios de villazgo en Castilla: el ejemplo hellinero

2023-10-20T09:39:16+02:00

Los territorios de la zona norte de la Taifa de Murcia tuvieron un devenir distinto a los de la zona sur tras su reconquista. Los primeros, inicialmente de realengo, formaron parte de uno de los Señoríos, más tarde Marquesado, más importantes de la Baja Edad Media, para integrarse muchos de aquellos lugares de nuevo en el realengo con los Reyes Católicos; los segundos, en buena medida, quedaron en el realengo bajo el gobierno de un adelantado. Para atraer y mantener la población se otorgaron distintos fueros y privilegios. De forma especial se analiza uno de los casos menos conocidos, el de la entonces villa de Hellín.

Del resguardo de la salud pública en la Novísima recopilación

2023-10-20T09:45:48+02:00

Las presentes páginas se detienen ante la novedad que supone en la recopilación castellana el título “Del resguardo de la salud pública” inserto en el último hito de este método legislativo, la Novísima, poniéndolo en relación, hacia atrás, con la clasificación delictiva de Filangieri y del Plan de Código Criminal carolino, así como, hacia delante, con los frutos de la codificación habidos en 1822 y 1848 y sus respectivos delitos contra la salud pública.

El precio justo de los productos agrarios en el derecho común y el derecho foral valenciano

2023-10-20T09:51:14+02:00

En la actualidad el incremento de los precios preocupa a los gobiernos porque perjudica a los consumidores. Ahora se plantea si desde las administraciones públicas se puede intervenir en el libre mercado de las mercancías. El objetivo del presente artículo en investigar si en la normativa jurídica vigente en el antiguo Reino de Valencia hubo preocupación por garantizar un precio justo de las mercancías. Se concluye que sí existía un interés por garantizar un precio justo de los productos agropecuarios que no perjudicase a los consumidores y ni a los productores. El Ius Commune y la legislación foral contemplaron medidas jurídicas para que en el mercado hubiese un precio ecuánime de las mercancías.

ESCLH Seventh Biennial Conference, Augsburg, June 21-23, 2023

2023-10-20T14:31:46+02:00

III Congreso de la Sociedad Española de Historia del Derecho

2023-10-20T14:37:48+02:00

Nuevos profesores titulares y catedráticos de Universidad de Historia del Derecho y de las Instituciones

2023-10-20T14:40:13+02:00

María López Díaz, M.ª del Carmen Saavedra, (eds.), Gobernar reformando. Los primeros Borbones en la España del siglo XVIII, Granada: Comares Historia, 2023, 366 pp. [ISBN: 978-84-1369-469-6]

2023-10-20T09:56:55+02:00

Aniceto Masferrer, (ed.), La jurisprudencia penal en España (1870 – 1978). Contribución del Tribunal Supremo al proceso configurador de los delitos, Cizur Menor (Navarra): Aranzadi, 2023, 928 pp. [ISBN: 978-84-1163-114-3]

2023-10-20T10:03:33+02:00

Viviana Kluger, María Angélica Corva, Agustín Parise y María Rosario Polotto, (eds.), Dimensión transatlántica de la iushistoria: actas de las XXVIII Jornadas de Historia del Derecho Argentino [en línea], Buenos Aires: Editorial de la Universidad Católica Argentina, 2023, 430 pp. [ISBN: 978-987-620-564-1]

2023-10-20T10:06:40+02:00

Beatriz García Fueyo, Recepción del Derecho romano en la doctrina de Amador Rodríguez, relativa al juicio de primera instancia, año 1609, Cizur Menor: Aranzadi, 2023, 331 pp. [ISBN: 9788411633369]

2023-10-20T10:10:14+02:00

Aniceto Masferrer, Libertad y ética pública. Por qué pensar críticamente es clave para salvar la democracia, Córdoba: Almuzara-Sekotia, 2022, 272 pp. [ISBN: 978-84-1131-278-3]

2023-10-20T10:14:02+02:00

Gema Polo Toribio, Manumissio. Libertas. Census. Civis. Incensus, Colección Monografías de Derecho Romano y Cultura Clásica, Dykinson: Madrid, 2023, 142 pp. [ISBN: 978-84-1122-990-6]

2023-10-20T10:17:07+02:00

Dario Mantovani, Legum muntitudo. La presencia de las leyes públicas en el derecho privado romano, Valencia: Tirant lo Blanch, 2022, 175 pp. [ISBN: 978-84-1378-620-9]

2023-10-20T10:20:38+02:00

Marina Rojo Gallego-Burín, El contrato de préstamo en la historia del derecho, prólogo de Miguel Ángel Moreno Navarrete, Cizur Menor, Navarra: Aranzadi, 2023, 313 pp. [978-84-1163-142-6]

2023-10-20T10:23:49+02:00

María Valentina Gómez Mampaso, Blanca Sáenz de Santa María Gómez Mampaso, Lecturas de historia del derecho español: textos y contextos, Madrid: Tecnos, 2022, 608 pp. [ISBN: 978-84-309-8309-4]

2023-10-20T13:43:17+02:00

Luis González Alvo, Faros y pantanos. Una historia de las prisiones provinciales argentinas (Córdoba, Santa Fe y Tucumán, 1853-1946), Madrid: Dykinson, 2022, 384 pp. [ISBN 978-84-1122-639-4]

2023-10-20T13:49:07+02:00

Guido Rossi, Ordinatio ad casum. Legal Causation in Italy (14th – 17th centuries), Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio Klostermann, 2023, 331 pp. [ISBN: 978-3-465-04608-0]

2023-10-20T13:54:43+02:00

Armando Pavón Romero, Yolanda Blasco Gil, La irrupción de la escritura en el Estudi General de València (1767-1797), Valencia: Tirant Humanidades, 2022, 156 pp. [ISBN 978-84-19071-93-4]

2023-10-20T13:57:28+02:00

Francisco Javier Díaz Majano, Cortes y Corte Trashumantes. Reuniones de las Cortes de Castilla en la actual Castilla-La Mancha (siglos XIV-XVI), Valencia: Tirant Humanidades, Cortes de Castilla – La Mancha, 2020. 447 pp. [ISBN: 978-84-18534-12-6]

2023-10-20T14:05:44+02:00

Patricia Zambrana Moral, La protección del medio ambiente: perspectiva histórico-jurídica, Navarra: Thomson Reuters Aranzadi, 2022, 246 pp. [ISBN: 978-84-1124-045-1]

2023-10-20T14:14:19+02:00

Aniceto Masferrer (ed.), Los delitos contra la honestidad en España (1870-1978). Contribución de la jurisprudencia del Tribunal Supremo a su configuración jurídica, Cizur Menor, Editorial Aranzadi, 2023, 342 pp. [ISBN: 978-84-1163-109-9]

2023-10-20T14:18:24+02:00

Entrevista a Salustiano de Dios de Dios

2023-10-20T14:43:40+02:00

Entrevista a Fernando de Arvizu

2023-10-20T14:46:07+02:00