Karl Härter:

The policing of religious diversity and deviance through early modern police ordinances

The Reformation and the subsequent process of confessionalization changed administrative law and policing in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and the Nordic Countries as well. States and authorities increasingly used police ordinances to regulate religious matters and developed specific administrative laws such as church and disciplinary ordinances, which not only aimed to maintain the religious order but also included objectives and purposes of the well-ordered state: the gute Policey. As a result, police ordinances regulated a wide range of religious practices and related matters such as poor relief, but also criminalized diverging religious minorities, blasphemy and sinful sexual behavior that should be prosecuted and punished by the public administration and judiciary. However, in the 18th century the concept of gute Policey changed, and police ordinances included religious tolerance and the decriminalization of offences related to the religious sphere. The Key-note lecture gives an overview on these developments and outlines the importance of administrative law and policing for the regulation of religious diversity and deviance by comparing the police ordinances of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and the Nordic Countries (Denmark and Sweden).

Prof. Dr. Karl Härter
Max-Planck-Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory
Hansaallee 41
60323 Frankfurt am Main
069 78978160
haerter@lhlt.mpg.de