Karl Härter

Legal Concepts of Terrorism as Political Crime and International Criminal Law in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Europe

This chapter gives an overview of the history of terrorism by analyzing terrorism as a political crime in eighteenth and nineteenth century Europe. At the time ‘terrorism’ did not merely exist as a separate, specific phenomenon but was considered as a political crime like treason or the ‘crimen laesae maiestatis.’ Reacting to different forms of political dissidence, revolt and criminal/terrorist action, the European authorities and states slowly shaped the legal concept of terrorism and developed an anti-terrorism legislation which could be extended to various forms of political dissidence and crime. This development was accompanied by the establishment of different new techniques of policing and anti-terrorism measures which were only partially integrated in the legal system or legally controlled. Particularly in the second half of the nineteenth century this development implied not only the modification of domestic criminal law but also affected fundamental rights and civil liberties already established by European constitutionalism. On the basis of these general developments, the chapter explores especially the impact of the legal concepts of terrorism on ‘international criminal law’. Political movements, political dissidents, rebels and anarchist could be labeled ‘terrorist’ and were considered a trans-border threat. This influenced not only the establishment and intensification of trans-border police activities and prosecution of ‘terrorists’ but stimulated the formation of international criminal law, particularly with regard to legal assistance, extradition, and asylum. The latter practices were modified by new norms like the assassination or the anarchist clause which restricted the granting of political asylum and extended extradition with regard to political crimes and terrorism. In this respect the legal concepts of terrorism affected fundamental rights and civil liberties on the international level and influenced the development of trans-border anti-terrorism measures and the formation of ‘international criminal law’.