This work explores the quantitative and qualitative development of
homicide in eastern Finland in the second half of the eighteenth century
and the early years of the nineteenth. The area studied comprised
northern Savo and northern Karelia in eastern Finland. At that time,
these were completely agricultural regions on the periphery of the
kingdom of Sweden. Indeed the majority of the population still got their
living from burn-beating agriculture. The analysis of homicide there
reveals characteristics that were exceptional by Western European
standards: the large proportion of premeditated homicides (murders) and
those within the family is more reminiscent of modern cities in the West
than of a pre-modern rural society. However, there also existed some
archaic forms of Western crime there. Most of the homicides within the
family were killings of brothers or brothers-in law, connected with the
family structure (the extended family) that prevailed in the region.
This study uses case analysis to explore the causes for the increase in
both familial homicide and murder in the area. One of the explanatory
factors that is dealt with is the interaction between the faltering
penal practice that then existed and the increase in certain types of
homicide. Despite the fact that it focuses on a particular region, the
study and the questions it poses have both international and current
relevance. This work builds a bridge between research into legal history
and the sociologically oriented study of the history of criminality.
