DiKE Das Strafrecht des Kantons Aargau von 1803 bis 1868 mit Schwerpunkt auf dem Kanton-Aargauischen

Using the example of the canton of Aargau, this study examines the phase of criminal law legislation in Switzerland after the decline of the Helvetic Republic in 1803, which has been little researched in legal history. The goal of the Aargau criminal law reform was a humane and progressive criminal legislation that took into account the character and customs of the canton's inhabitants and was oriented towards contemporary criminal law principles. The Austrian penal code of 1803 played an important role in this, as it was the most up-to-date criminal legislation in Europe at the time and there was a close relationship between Aargau and Austria. In contrast, the canton fundamentally broke away from the criminal liberalism of the Helvetic Republic and continued the trend toward a more repressive handling of state criminal law that had already emerged in the preceding years. With the Canton Aargau Code on Criminal Offenses of 19 Christmonat 1804, Aargau is the first canton of the mediation period to have enacted a criminal law. The understanding, which is still prevalent today, that the 'reforms' of 1803 mean a relapse into the legal structures and traditions of the Ancien Régime, is by no means true for the canton of Aargau, since there was indeed an in-depth examination of the reform ideas of the Enlightenment. Thus, one was aware of the problems of the old criminal law, both with regard to the design of punishments and the criminal process. However, taking up the Enlightenment concerns was not accompanied by a fundamental humanization of criminal law. This is not a specifically Aargau phenomenon, however, but corresponds to the widespread utilitarian thinking of the Enlightenment thinkers in Europe at the time.