Feuerbach, Paul Johann Anselm

Feuerbach, Paul Johann Anselm

 

Born Nov. 14, 1775, in Hainichen, near Jena; died May 29, 1833, in Frankfurt am Main. German criminologist; representative of the classical school of criminal law. Father of the philosopher L. Feuerbach.

Feuerbach advanced a number of progressive principles of bourgeois criminal law, such as the equality of all citizens before the law, and defined the judicial concept of sanity as the basis for criminal accountability. He advocated the theory of psychological coercion (intimidation) as the aim of punishment. This theory was reflected in the Bavarian Criminal Code of 1813, which was drawn up by Feuerbach.

WORKS

Revision der Grundsätze und Grundbegriffe des positiven peinlichen Rechts, vols. 1–2. Erfurt, 1799–1800.
Lehrbuch des gemeinen in Deutschland geltenden peinlichen Rechts. Giessen, 1801.