Knut Olivecrona and his ”Om dödsstraffet”. - Figuras

somewhere in between? Interesting is also the strong emphasis on the ideal of a
law not needed to be supplemented by clemency. This and the thought of
clemency as a sign of the lack of perfection of the law are a reminiscence of the
Enlightenment and the French revolution that also tried the idea in reality. 1
The situation in Norway, in union with Sweden 1814-1905, naturally
interested Olivecrona. His publication of a study of the Norwegian case,
however, also tells us a lot about the Swedish situation. It appeared in three
versions. The Swedish Dödsstraff-statistik från Norge, betraktelse deröfver was
published in 1869 in Tidskrift för lagstiftning, lagskipning och förvaltning. Next
year a French version, Notices statistiques sur l'application de la peine de mort
en Norvège, appeared and the following year a Norwegian, Statistiske notitser
om dödsstraffens anvendelse i Norge.2 Among the ingredients were tables of
capital sentences and executions in Norway between 1843 and 1867, based on
information provided by Fredrik Brandt, professor of law in Christiania.3 The
French and Norwegian versions differed from the published Swedish version in
two respects. The probable relationship between them is that the later versions
are updated and that the Swedish lacks a line of thought. An account of
international events had been updated with developments from Germany, the
Netherlands and France, the latest date mentioned 1/3 1870.4 Information on the
circumstances around the pardoning of Ole Olsen Næs in 1849 mentioned by
Brandt in the letter where he thanked for the Swedish article figured in the
French and Norwegian versions.5 More interesting, however, is that the French
and Norwegian versions include a theme absent from the Swedish, de facto
abolition of the penalty of death. Not only were these words lacking in lines of
reasoning concerning Norway or Sweden, but more striking is its absence
concerning the Finnish situation where de facto abolition was a reality since
more than forty years.6 In the French and Norwegian versions, however, the
thought of de facto abolition was present. The Finnish abolition de facto was
1 Beccaria 1770 p 132 sq, Ruller 1987 p 39, 73 sq, Prétot 1983 p 1529sq.
2 Olivecrona 1869, Olivecrona 1870b, Olivecrona 1871b.
3 Olivecrona 1869 p 494 sqq.
4Olivecrona 1870b p 4, Olivecrona 1871b p 4.
5 Olivecrona 1870b particularly p 7, Olivecrona 1871b particularly p 7, letter from Fredrik
Brandt to Knut Olivecrona 31/12 1876-2/1 1870 G197 k:6 UUB
6 Olivecrona 1870b p 3, 14, 17, Olivecrona 1871b p 3, 12 sq, 15. In Finland the execution of
capital sentences was common during the first years as grand principality. Of 62 final
sentences 45 had been executed up to the ascension of Nicholas I in the end of 1825. In april
1826 Nicholas decided that capital sentences for crimes neither against the peace of society
nor the person of the czar. In fact all received pardon. The condemned judged as worst was
sent to Siberia, while others were kept in Finnish fortresses. Of 1313 condemned to death
between 1826 and 1860 594 were deported to Siberia and 719 received other punishments. In
the first years only men were deported, but starting in 1848 women were sent to Siberia.
Lagus 1861 p 128 sq, Lagus 1861-62 p 133, 144 sqq, 1 sq, 7 sqq, Olivecrona 1882 p 669.
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