1. Funding Phase B02
Denunciation and Reprimands – Awareness as a Resource for Implementing Laws
Principal Investigator
Prof. Dr. Susanne Lepsius
Researcher
Dr. Felix Grollmann
Project Description
Using the cities Nuremberg, Regensburg and Florence as examples, the project aims to examine how in urban societies in the early modern period, residents and citizens helped shape the implementation of laws through denunciation and reprimands.
Using examples of economically relevant misconducts and violations of regulations pertaining to clothing and luxury goods in particular, the project aims to investigate which mechanisms were employed by urban legislators to alert town residents to transgressions, and how said legislators encouraged active involvement initiating legal procedures in town courts.
At the same time, using records from craftsmen and merchant guilds, an analysis of how often denunciations actually took place, and which citizens or officials played a particular role in the implementation of such norms (even though the interests of those reporting misdeeds were not immediately affected by them), will be carried out.