Hermann Seuffert

Hermann Seuffert (born August 28, 1836 in Ansbach , † November 23, 1902 in Bonn ) was a German criminal law professor and legal politician.

Life

Hermann Seuffert was born in 1836 as the son of the lawyer and university lecturer Johann Adam von Seuffert . He attended the state Maximiliansgymnasium in Munich and then studied law from 1853 at the University of Munich and at the University of Heidelberg .

He completed his studies in 1859 and was in Munich in 1861 on the subject of “Reformatio in pejus in the newer, especially Bavarian. Criminal Trials ”(1861). After completing his habilitation that same year , he received his teaching license in 1862 and was appointed associate professor at the University of Munich in 1868. In 1872 he became a full professor for criminal law and civil procedural law at the University of Giessen . In 1879 he received a call to the University of Wroclaw and was rector of the university from 1885 to 1886. He advocated the appointment of the until then unknown Franz von Liszt as his successor to his chair.

In the emerging scholarly dispute between the supporters of a classic criminal law school, which is committed to the idea of ​​retaliation and the modern school of criminal law cited by Liszt, which is committed to the prevention model, Seuffert increasingly sided with the modernizers and ultimately took a key position in this dispute. He was particularly committed in 1888 as a founding member of the German national group of the reform-oriented “ International Criminalist Association ” (IKV).

In 1890 he moved to the University of Bonn, where he taught legal philosophy, criminal law and criminal proceedings and was rector from 1896 to 1897. Seuffert now completely turned away from the idea of ​​criminal retribution. In his opinion, the state could at best guarantee its citizens security. In a series of programmatic writings and speeches, Seuffert advocated a reform of criminal law. In his writings, he also opposed the criminal liability for success and called for the introduction of a conditional sentence.

Seuffert's achievements as a criminal law reformer are to be rated higher overall than his criminal law publications, which are now rather forgotten. The fact that he was appointed to a "scientific committee" by the Reich Justice Office in 1902 to prepare the draft of a new penal code can be seen as a particular success of his criminal policy engagement. However, because of his unexpected death, he could no longer take up this work.

Seuffert also emerged as a criminologist , in particular a criminal statistician: unlike many colleagues of his time, he attributed the increased intensity of criminal prosecution at the turn of the century not only to increased crime, but also to a higher “criminal irritability” of the public. Seuffert took a position here that was only generally accepted after 1945 with the sociological turn of criminology.

Awards

• 1887 - Privy Council of Justice ; Real Privy Councilor

Works

• Hermann Seuffert: The Faust u. Debt pledges in bankruptcy d. Pledger. 1861.
• Hermann Seuffert: A word in d. Public prosecutor's question. 1865.
• Hermann Seuffert: Discussion about d. Occupation d. Jury courts according to d. German judicial authority laws. 1879.
• Hermann Seuffert: Communication from d. Drafts e. Criminal Code f. Italy , in: Jur. Fac. D. Univ. Breslau (ed. ), Festschrift for the fiftieth doctorate. d. Really Go Chief Justice Councilor Prof. Dr. Rudolf v. Gneist am Nov. 20, 1888, 1888, pp. 74-22, Neudr. 1974.
• Hermann Seuffert: Is d. introduce conditional conviction in criminal law? , in: Verhh. d. 21. Ger. Jur.tags, Volume 1, 1890, pp. 227–275.
• Hermann Seuffert: The criminal legislation in Dt. Rich. 1893.
• Hermann Seuffert: Floor plan to front door. over German criminal procedure law. 1898.
• Hermann Seuffert: Anarchism a. Criminal law. 1899.
• Hermann Seuffert: A new penal code f. Dtld. 1902.
• Hermann Seuffert: Unterss. over d. local distribution d. Crime in the German Rich, from d. abandoned papers d. Vf. Sent and erg. v. E. Friedeberg. 1906

literature

• K. v. Lilienthal, in: German legal journal. 7, 1902, pp. 570 f.
• E. Landsberg, in: Chronicle of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Bonn. 28, NF 17, 1903, pp. 3-6.
• Franz von Liszt, in: Journal for the entire criminal law science 23, 1903, pp. 323–343.
• Franz von Liszt, articles on criminal law and lectures. 2nd volume, 1905, pp. 448-70, Neudr. 1970.
• Eberhard Schmidt, introduction to the history of the German criminal justice system. 31995, § 327, p. 394 f.
• H. Groß, in: Biographisches Jahrbuch und Deutscher Nekrolog. Volume X, pp. 302-304.
• Rector and Senate of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität (Hrsg.): The Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität - Your Rectors and Famous Professors , Bonn University Printing House, Bonn 1943, p. 184 f.
• David von Mayenburg:  Seuffert, Hermann. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 24, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-428-11205-0 , p. 280 f. ( Digitized version ).

Portraits

• Plaque by Albert Küppers (1842–1929), 1903 (University of Bonn)