Hans-Peter Weingand
Vom Feuertod zu einem Monat Gefängnis
Gleichgeschlechtliche sexuelle Handlungen und Strafrecht in Österreich 1499-1803
From death trough fire to one month of prison
Same-sex sexual acts and criminal law in Austria 1499-1803
English abstract
In the habsburgische Erbländer there are three variants of punishment of same-sex sexual acts during the 16th century: "Sodomiter" succeeded the original term "Ketzer" in Tirol; in the Steiermark, one followed the Carolina and mentioned women explicitely. In 1656 the "Ferdinandea" set up new standards through suspicions, a catalogue of inquiry and aggravating or extenuating circumstances. Concerning same-sex sexual acts, the death penalty through decapitation and burning of the body was provided. This law supplied the basis for Maria Theresia’s criminal law for all habsburgische Erbländer (the Theresiana of 1768) and still in 1743 for "Zedlers Universal-Lexicon", the current criminological knowledge of that time. Joseph II’s criminal law of 1787 provided as punishment a month of prison at the most, the sentence was raised to one year of jail in 1803 and to five years in 1852. Since the often mentioned penalty of ship-towing under Joseph II. only applied to felons, there is no reason to assume that because of same-sex sexual acts sentenced were affected by this. Also, there is hardly any proof for trials of that kind preceding the 19th century in Austria.