Begnadigungspraktiken im Europa der Moderne: Ein Restbestand monarchischer Willkür?

Abstract

Around the turn of the 19th century, criminal justice systems changed profoundly in most European countries. The division of powers, an independent judiciary, a moderated regime of punishments and reformed legal procedures aimed to guarantee the principle of equality before the law. Nevertheless, courts did not always have the final say: The royal prerogative of mercy, though much criticized in the age of Enlightenment as an expression of arbitrary absolutist rule, remained highly relevant also aer 1800, and it lives on until today in the special right of heads of state to pardon convicted offenders. In contrast to studies on the early modern period, research on the modern age has paid little attention to this aspect of the history of law and crime so far.
This article proposes a closer exploration of pardoning policies as an essential component of criminal justice reform from the early 19th century to the interwar period. Based on archival research still in progress, it does not intend to present definitive results, but rather to point out open questions and highlight preliminary findings, with a main focus on England and Prussia. It first sketches the current state of research and discusses why the royal prerogative of mercy survived and even thrived in the 19th century, despite having lost its traditional sources of legitimacy. Then it takes a look at petitions for pardon and their handling in England, followed by reflections on similarities as well as conspicuous differences to Prussia and other continental European states. Finally, it summarizes what insights might be gained from a comparative history of pardoning practices in modern Europe.