Liability Assessments and Criminal Responsibility in Norwegian Legal History

Abstract

The general content of the assessment of intent was explicitly clarified for the first time in a Norwegian criminal code when the 2005 Criminal Code and its §22 came into force on 1 October 2015. Until the Criminal Code of 1902, the subjective requirement for liability was regulated solely in individual regulations, and even though intent pursuant to §40 in this Code was established as a general main rule, it was still up to the courts to report on the content of the judgement. Thus it is clear that development towards a more and more defined and nuanced study of criminal liability took place gradually. This article goes even further back in time and looks at how the discussion of liability and responsibility changed between 1642 and 1799, with particular emphasis on intent and related criteria. This will be achieved by analysing 32 cases of infanticide registered with the Hordaland district court (bygdeting), which at this time was the first instance in the legal system.