Author: Martin Sunnqvist, Juridiska fakulteten (Faculty of Law), Lunds universitet (Lund University) - Personal Website, ORCID, ResearchGate

Abstracts:
- »Chapter Eleven deals with Sweden. With the title “Case law between the adoption of two criminal codes, Sweden 1864–1962: The definition of rape and aspects of criminal intent”, Martin Sunnqvist, Professor of Legal History at the Lund University, explains that in Sweden, a new Criminal Code (Strafflagen) was adopted in 1864, and it came into force in 1865. It was valid until 1965, when a new Criminal Code (Brottsbalken) entered into force. A novelty in 1865 was that, instead of applying very detailed rules about sentencing for each crime, judges were now supposed to find the right punishment in a framework of more general sentencing latitudes. The definitions of the different crimes were also reformed. In his chapter, the author discusses the development in Supreme Court case law of the definition of rape. Surprisingly, the earliest reported rape case after 1864 is from 1925. This indicates that there was a reluctance to report rape cases in full; many cases were only reported in summary and not indexed. Cases reported from 1925 onwards show that victims of rape were expected to resist the attacks of men, otherwise, it could be questioned whether the sexual intercourse was actually involuntary. Not until 1942 was a stricter view on rape established. There was then less room for the perpetrator arguing that he thought that the woman voluntarily consented after having been the victim of violence. The 1942 case established the principle that consent must be voluntary. Sunnqvist also discusses some cases from before the 1960s that are still relevant in judging. One example deals with the assessment of criminal intent in relation to ownership rights. Another example deals with resistance against civil servants or, phrased differently, the right to oppose wrongful acts of civil servants.« (Source: Aniceto Masferrer. »The contribution of case law to the making of Western criminal law.« The Making of Criminal Law: The Role of Case Law in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Edited by Aniceto Masferrer. London 2026: 30)

- »This chapter discusses the development of criminal law through case law during the time of the Swedish 1864 Criminal Code. The main example is how rules relating to rape were interpreted by the Supreme Court. The first fully reported Supreme Court case about rape is from 1925. In this case and another from 1927, a heavy burden was placed on a woman to clearly resist the perpetrator, otherwise the crime would not be defined as rape. In 1937, the types of violence relevant for rape were widened. There was at first a hesitation within the courts how to draw the line between more or less lenient violence, but in two cases in 1937 and 1942, the Supreme Court marked a stricter view on rape than had dominated before. The chapter also discusses some types of cases where Supreme Court decisions from the 19th and early 20th centuries are still important.« (Source: Taylor & Francis Online)

Contents:

	1. Introduction (p. 261)
	2. The legal definition of rape developed in case law (p. 263)
		2.1. The development of the sentencing latitudes for rape in the criminal code (p. 263)
		2.2. The definition of rape in the system of the criminal code (p. 265)
		2.3. The development in case law (p. 266)
	3. Still-relevant cases from the time of the 1864 criminal code (p. 268)
	4. Concluding comments (p. 270)
	Cases (p. 270)
	Bibliographical references (p. 271)

Wikipedia: History of Europe: History of Sweden / Sweden during the late 19th century, History of Sweden (1945–1967) | Law: Criminal code / Law of Sweden | Sex and the law: Rape / Rape in Sweden