Beiträge zur Rechtsgeschichte Österreichs 9. Jahrgang Heft 1/2019, pp. 16-33, 2019/05/21
Sexualität vor Gericht
Deviante geschlechtliche Praktiken und deren Verfolgung vom 14. bis zum 19. Jahrhundert
The chapter observes the function of early modern police ordinances regarding the criminalisation of sexual deviant behaviour, the legal differentiation of sexual offences and the expansion of sanctions. It identifies two periods of more intense regulation in the 16th and 18th centuries related to the reformation, which intensified criminalisation and social control, and the reforms of ‘enlightened absolutism’ that intended a decriminalisation as well as an increase in birth rates. An exemplary analysis of criminal justice in the electorate of Mainz investigates the enforcement of the ordinances and the interdependencies of ‘gute Policey’ and judicial practice that also provided opportunities for the subjects to use criminal justice and to negotiate sexual deviance.
Keywords: administrative law – criminalisation – police ordinances – sexual offences
