Sifting

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The Besiebnung (s) (derived from the numeral seven ), contemporary besibnung , das besiben / besybbent ; Convict verb besiebenden / besiebenden (with seven witnesses), the oath of besiebenden denoted an element of the judicial taking of evidence , especially in criminal trials of the Middle Ages and the early modern period . The confession ( Urgicht ) obtained through embarrassing questioning ( torture ) or even just threatening it ( territion ) had to be maintained by the accused during the subsequent sieving so that it could be used as conclusive evidence for the judgment.

Definitions

In addition to its significance in terms of criminal proceedings, the sanctification was also understood in other contexts as a form of affirmation or assurance by seven people or repeated actions.

(Be) sibnen was customary 1. as an expression of jurisprudence; Before the sentence is pronounced, let a criminal confess his offense again in front of 7 innocent witnesses. Let the accused or the plaintiff confirm his / her credibility with 7 oath assistants (oath of disobedience). Get a defendant to confess in front of 7 witnesses. But also for 2. officially examine and dissect a dead person (in front of 7 witnesses) in order to determine the cause of death. And 3. colloquially in the alliteration b´sibne and b´segne as a designation for multiple prayers or intercessions . The term Sibner was used, among other things, for members of a committee consisting of seven men (council, court, etc.).

In the context of criminal law, the term is also defined in the Glossarium germanicum medii aevi by Christian Gottlob Haltaus from 1758.

As early as Roman antiquity , secular or religious collegial organs were called septemviri by seven men . The most important example are the Septemviri epulonum .

Sources of law in criminal law

Despite its pioneering importance for the standardization of law in the Holy Roman Empire , the Institute of Sifting was not included in the Constitutio Criminalis Carolina (Embarrassing Court Regulations of Emperor Charles V - Carolina) from 1532. However, it can be proven in regional legal systems, for example in Art. 273 of the Bamberg Neck Court Code (BambHalsGO) Constitutio Criminalis Bambergensis of 1507, which nevertheless remained applicable.

Practical significance in criminal proceedings

There was no guilty verdict unless a confession was cleared. The siege was a necessary part of the judicial taking of evidence and formally concluded it.

Contemporary sources describe the process:

"As far as the Processum Torturae in specie is concerned, our officials are supposed to have the accused poor sinner with several of the judges and the clerk in the company of several of the judges and the clerk without interruption, and not, as happened, for example, out of lack of experience of the rights, to have the defendant exequate (interrogate one after another at different times ). His embarrassing original gout should also be diligently described from his mouth, namely not when he is stuck in torture, but when he is let down. "

The next day the dedication followed - "when would you be after four and twenty full hours after endured torture, if you were Urgicht, if you had previously known the torture, in front of honest men in the morning, and not at the place, tower or vault there he has been torqued, not even in the presence of the messenger (executioner), but in turn is read out in an understandable way. "

If the accused retracted the confession he had made under torture, "Our Amptleut should report all this to our Kanzley to our ObernRäth, cumbersome and wait for a decision."

However, if the accused was still confessing during the concession , "then our officials on the flow three or four days after the concession again present their original judgment to the judge and when he remains there," try him for the confessed acts and the penalty enforce.

The judgments were announced by the competent maleficent court , whose composition could be identical to that of the regional court. The practical interrogation, however, was previously conducted by officials ("Amptleut") inquisitorial capacity, whose decisions ultimately made the difference. The subsequent sifting, which was specifically recorded, and the proceedings before the court were only of formal significance.

Examples

  • In the criminal proceedings against the alleged child murderer Marie D. in the 18th century, the court and the defense disputed whether the “inquisitress” should be subjected to the embarrassing questioning (torture) or not. The opinion of a legal scholar finally confirmed the admissibility. However, when the executioner demonstrated and explained the instruments of torture, the accused confessed to the crime she was accused of (killing her own child immediately after birth). After she had not revoked this confession even during the subsequent siege, she was executed by the sword two days later.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Matthias von Lexer: Middle High German Concise Dictionary: at the same time as a supplement and alphabetical index to the Middle High German dictionaries by Benecke-Müller-Zarncke . Leipzig, 1872, p. 142
  2. ↑ Schweizerisches Idiotikon, Zurich, Vol. 7 1913, p. 60
  3. ↑ p. 146
  4. ^ Embarrassing court rules of Charles V (PDF; 3.24 MB) Retrieved on November 7, 2014 .
  5. ↑ BambHalsGO. 1507, Art. 273 . DRQEdit. Retrieved January 25, 2019.
  6. ↑ a b c d A. L. Reyscher (ed.): Complete, historically and critically processed collection of the Wuerttemberg laws , vol. 5, court laws from 1608 to 1654, Stuttgart, Verlag Cotta, 1832, p. 386 digitized. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  7. ↑ Kazuo Muta: witch hunt in the county (principality) Fürstenberg. historicum.net, November 20, 2007. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  8. ↑ Dr. Pfister, City Director of Heidelberg: The child murderer Marie D. - A criminal case with special consideration for investigation. in: Gallus Aloys Kleinschrod , Christian Gottlieb Konopak, CJA Mittermaier (eds): New archive of criminal law. Second volume, first piece. Halle, 1818, p. 121 ff. Google eBook.