Rädsla eller rättvisa? – En rättshistorisk analys av de svenska häxprocessernas avvikelser från svensk processrätt på 1600-talet
(2024) LAGF03 20241Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Både Sveriges rättsväsende och makthavare gjorde avsteg från gällande processrätt på 1600-talet. Den samtida lagstiftningen uppställde stränga regler för rättegången, bevisvärderingen och straffen.
Trolldom hade utgjort ett brott enligt lagstiftningen sedan medeltiden. Med förändringar inom rättsväsendet utökades brottet, samtidigt som anklagelser om Blåkullafärder och djävulspakter spred sig över landet. Utländsk rätt påverkade de nyupprättade hovrätterna. Den hårda inkvisitionsprocessen talade om tortyr och rannsakningar. Kyrkan och den värdsliga makten strävade efter att bekämpa det som inte var renlärigt. Dessa var inslag i den hysteri som bröt ut på 1660-talet i Sverige.
Under häxprocessernas mest intensiva period i Sverige... (More) - Både Sveriges rättsväsende och makthavare gjorde avsteg från gällande processrätt på 1600-talet. Den samtida lagstiftningen uppställde stränga regler för rättegången, bevisvärderingen och straffen.
Trolldom hade utgjort ett brott enligt lagstiftningen sedan medeltiden. Med förändringar inom rättsväsendet utökades brottet, samtidigt som anklagelser om Blåkullafärder och djävulspakter spred sig över landet. Utländsk rätt påverkade de nyupprättade hovrätterna. Den hårda inkvisitionsprocessen talade om tortyr och rannsakningar. Kyrkan och den värdsliga makten strävade efter att bekämpa det som inte var renlärigt. Dessa var inslag i den hysteri som bröt ut på 1660-talet i Sverige.
Under häxprocessernas mest intensiva period i Sverige mellan 1668 och 1676 gjordes avsteg från lagstiftningen för att hantera utmaningarna med fenomenet. Hovrätternas arbete togs över av särskilda trolldomskommissioner, som dömde på plats och verkställde dödsstraffen direkt. De ordinarie bevisreglerna, starkt påverkade av den legala bevisteorins krav på frivilliga erkännanden, myndiga vittnen och annan bevisning än enbart indiciebevisning, frångicks helt. Erkännanden tvingades fram med olaglig tortyr. Barnvittnena och indiciebevisningen blev centrala i trolldomsmålen, där fullgod bevisning generellt var en bristvara.
Valen rättfärdigades med flera faktorer, såsom religionen, bevisläget, tilltro till barnens samstämmighet, undantagsförbrytelser och effektivitet. Inte lika uttalade motiv kan ha varit rädsla, påtryckningar och en vilja att lugna ned situationen. Flera nutida forskare talar om masshysteri.
Uppsatsen ämnar att närmare undersöka nämnda avsteg från 1600-talets svenska processlagstiftning samt motiven bakom dem, med en rättshistorisk metod ur ett rättsutvecklingsperspektiv. (Less) - Abstract
- Both the Swedish Judiciary and rulers made deviations from applicable procedural law in the 17th century. The contemporary legislation set up strict rules for the trial, the evaluation of evidence, and the punishment.
Sorcery had constituted a criminal offense according to the law since the Middle Ages. With changes within the Judiciary, the crime was expanded, while accusations of journeys to Blåkulla and devil pacts spread across the country. Foreign law affected the newly established Courts of Appeal. The stern Inquisition process spoke of torture and interrogations. The Church and the worldly powers aspired to combat what was not true faith. These were elements of the hysteria that erupted in the 1660s in Sweden.
During the most... (More) - Both the Swedish Judiciary and rulers made deviations from applicable procedural law in the 17th century. The contemporary legislation set up strict rules for the trial, the evaluation of evidence, and the punishment.
Sorcery had constituted a criminal offense according to the law since the Middle Ages. With changes within the Judiciary, the crime was expanded, while accusations of journeys to Blåkulla and devil pacts spread across the country. Foreign law affected the newly established Courts of Appeal. The stern Inquisition process spoke of torture and interrogations. The Church and the worldly powers aspired to combat what was not true faith. These were elements of the hysteria that erupted in the 1660s in Sweden.
During the most intense period of the witch trials in Sweden between 1668 and 1676, deviations were made from the legislation to handle the challenges brought by the phenomenon. The work of the Courts of Appeal was taken over by special Witchcraft Commissions, which convicted on site and executed the death penalties immediately. The ordinary rules of evidence, heavily affected by requirements of the legal theory of evidence of voluntary confessions, witnesses of legal age and other evidence than solely circumstantial evidence, was completely departed from. Confessions were extorted with illegal torture. The child witnesses and the circumstantial evidence became central to the sorcery cases, where satisfactory evidence in general was a scarce commodity.
The choices were justified by several factors, such as the religion, the state of evidence, trust to the concordance of the children, exceptional crimes, and efficiency. Not as pronounced motives may have been fear, pressures, and a will to calm down the situation. Several present-day scholars speak of a mass hysteria.
The essay intends to closer investigate mentioned deviations from the Swedish 17th century procedural law and the motives behind them, with a legal history method from a legal development perspective. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9151736
- author
- Wilmert, Celina LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- LAGF03 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- processrätt, rättshistoria, häxprocesser, häxor
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9151736
- date added to LUP
- 2024-06-26 12:31:15
- date last changed
- 2024-06-26 12:31:15
@misc{9151736,
abstract = {{Both the Swedish Judiciary and rulers made deviations from applicable procedural law in the 17th century. The contemporary legislation set up strict rules for the trial, the evaluation of evidence, and the punishment.
Sorcery had constituted a criminal offense according to the law since the Middle Ages. With changes within the Judiciary, the crime was expanded, while accusations of journeys to Blåkulla and devil pacts spread across the country. Foreign law affected the newly established Courts of Appeal. The stern Inquisition process spoke of torture and interrogations. The Church and the worldly powers aspired to combat what was not true faith. These were elements of the hysteria that erupted in the 1660s in Sweden.
During the most intense period of the witch trials in Sweden between 1668 and 1676, deviations were made from the legislation to handle the challenges brought by the phenomenon. The work of the Courts of Appeal was taken over by special Witchcraft Commissions, which convicted on site and executed the death penalties immediately. The ordinary rules of evidence, heavily affected by requirements of the legal theory of evidence of voluntary confessions, witnesses of legal age and other evidence than solely circumstantial evidence, was completely departed from. Confessions were extorted with illegal torture. The child witnesses and the circumstantial evidence became central to the sorcery cases, where satisfactory evidence in general was a scarce commodity.
The choices were justified by several factors, such as the religion, the state of evidence, trust to the concordance of the children, exceptional crimes, and efficiency. Not as pronounced motives may have been fear, pressures, and a will to calm down the situation. Several present-day scholars speak of a mass hysteria.
The essay intends to closer investigate mentioned deviations from the Swedish 17th century procedural law and the motives behind them, with a legal history method from a legal development perspective.}},
author = {{Wilmert, Celina}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Rädsla eller rättvisa? – En rättshistorisk analys av de svenska häxprocessernas avvikelser från svensk processrätt på 1600-talet}},
year = {{2024}},
}