Hand held proceedings
The hand detention procedure was a type of medieval criminal procedure that was particularly expressed in the Sachsenspiegel .
In contrast to the ordinary accusation procedure , in which the alleged perpetrator's perpetration had to be proven for a conviction, the sentence established in the old Saxon popular law that in the case of a "handful act" the perpetrator could be punished immediately. This was understood to mean both the case that the criminal was caught in the act himself ( raising hand ) or under circumstances that clearly revealed his perpetrator ( glancing appearance ), as well as the case that the perpetrator openly admitted his guilt ( goutier Mouth ). If three lay judges were present in such a case, they could seize and execute the criminal without any further procedure.
After or during the seizure, the so-called scaffold had to be raised by the court clerks called for this: as a testimony to the practiced vengeance, all neighbors ( "Schreimannen" ) were called together by shouting , before the victim and the called neighbors were brought to justice. If charges had not yet been brought at the scene, they were now brought to court.
The handcuffed perpetrator, who was also tied up with his weapons and the criminal property found on him, could not testify in court. Only those injured by the hand-held perpetrator were heard. By means of a transfer oath this could, together with six tools (the cry men covet) the apparent infringement of the measures taken. The violation of the law was sealed by the oath of the plaintiff and the six witnesses. The perpetrator had no way of defense, in particular he could not fall back on the cleaning oath. The hand detention proceedings were therefore of a purely executive nature.
The killing then had to be “verified” as legal to the neighbors who had been summoned or later in court in a trial against the dead man . For this purpose, the body of the victim was tied up and brought to court as a clear sign of the violation of the law. The oath of the perpetrator and the six screamers were proof of the illegality of the criminal act of the killed as well as justification of the act of killing.
The direct right to kill has been preserved longest in the case of nightly theft, resistance and the risk of flight, as well as handful adultery .
It was later weakened to the right of arrest and is retained as a provisional right of arrest in Section 127 (1) StPO .
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Femgerichte Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon, Volume 6. Leipzig 1906, pp. 411–412. Zeno.org, accessed June 27, 2019
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from February 25, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Der Sachsenspiegel. Overview of the legal systematic structure as well as a comparative legal historical consideration of selected regulations.
- ↑ Martin Arends: The old procedure history of criminal law. Epochs of Criminal Law, accessed June 27, 2019
- ↑ Peter CA Schels: Handy Tat Medieval Lexicon. Small encyclopedia of the German Middle Ages, accessed on June 27, 2019
- ↑ Martin Arends: Adultery history of criminal law. Conflict Resolution in the Early Medieval Leges, accessed on June 27, 2019
