A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Banishment, Urban Community and Judicial Practice – Thieves in Mid-Seventeenth-Century Turku
Subtitle: Thieves in Mid-Seventeenth-Century Turku
Authors: Riitta Laitinen
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Publication year: 2013
Journal:: Scandinavian Journal of History
Number in series: 5
Volume: 38
Issue: 5
First page : 549
Last page: 567
Number of pages: 19
ISSN: 0346-8755
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03468755.2013.847487
Abstract
The practice of banishing thieves, and the changes that took place in that practice in mid-17th-century Turku, illuminates the issues of building a good urban community as well as the changes that were happening in law and judicial practice in early modern Sweden. Variations and changes in punishing thieves in the 1640s and 1650s in Turku show that the position of the thief in the urban community, and the amount that was stolen, affected the courts’ considerations throughout the two decades. Nevertheless, an ongoing tendency towards moderation in sentencing is visible in courts, and the influence of a new penal ordinance of 1653 is noticeable. The banishment of thieves, even if it removed unwanted people from town, was no more strongly connected to the goal of creating a good community than other punishments were. Both banishment and other punishments,however, were connected to the conceptions of an ordered and harmonious community. The court cases, nevertheless, show that the makeup of the Turku urban community was more open than the strict moral or legal guidelines of the time would suggest.
The practice of banishing thieves, and the changes that took place in that practice in mid-17th-century Turku, illuminates the issues of building a good urban community as well as the changes that were happening in law and judicial practice in early modern Sweden. Variations and changes in punishing thieves in the 1640s and 1650s in Turku show that the position of the thief in the urban community, and the amount that was stolen, affected the courts’ considerations throughout the two decades. Nevertheless, an ongoing tendency towards moderation in sentencing is visible in courts, and the influence of a new penal ordinance of 1653 is noticeable. The banishment of thieves, even if it removed unwanted people from town, was no more strongly connected to the goal of creating a good community than other punishments were. Both banishment and other punishments,however, were connected to the conceptions of an ordered and harmonious community. The court cases, nevertheless, show that the makeup of the Turku urban community was more open than the strict moral or legal guidelines of the time would suggest.
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