Open AccessCriminal and legal characteristics of infanticide under the Austrian Criminal Code 1852
Author(s) -
Khrystyna Perepelytsia
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
časopis kiïvsʹkogo unìversitetu prava
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2219-5521
DOI - 10.36695/2219-5521.4.2020.11
Subject(s) - criminal code , ukrainian , law , legislature , criminal law , the republic , political science , spanish civil war , criminology , penal code , period (music) , history , sociology , art , philosophy , linguistics , theology , aesthetics
Galicia used to be a part of the Austrian Empire from 1772. In 1867, it became a part of the dual monarchy of Austria and Hungary.Following the breakdown of the last and quite short period of restoration of Ukrainian statehood in Galicia in 1918–1919, as theresult of post-war peace accords, the territory joined the Second Polish Republic, where it remained until 1939. During the periodbetween 1852 and 1932, the Austrian Criminal Code was in force in Galicia. Besides, starting from the second half of the 19th century,there was a growing public interest in infanticide, which could be explained by the fact that the society considered such acts to beimmoral, where the victim was a defenceless child, whose own mother was a criminal. Such cases were covered in numerous Galicianperiodicals, and the cases themselves became notable. Nonetheless, most of these crimes remained unsolved.The article dwells on the development of the concept of criminal responsibility for infanticide in the Ukrainian territories in themiddle of the 19th – first third of the 20th century in accordance with the provisions of the Austrian Criminal Code 1852.The law clearly established a distinction between abortion and infanticide, however, in both cases, the object of legal protectionwas the child’s life (whether the child was born or not). It was specifically emphasized that the qualifying feature for this crime was amother’s marital status. The have been analysed the motives the legislative establishment could be guided by when formulating theprivileged components of this crime. There have been provided common features of the examination procedure, whose goal was toestablish the fact of the birth of a child alive as a prerequisite for prosecution for infanticide. It was emphasized that criminal and pu -nishable actions mean not only trying to take the child’s life, but also mother’s inactivity in case of failure to provide the necessaryassistance during childbirth process. The paper briefly outlines social, economic and psychological factors that could prompt a womanto commit a crime.