Summary Criminal Court Formed on the Occasion of The Hussar Rebellion (1844) – A Short Outline

Abstract

The paper sheds light on the summary criminal court formed on the occasion of the Hussar Rebellion (‘Katanska buna’, 1844), an unsuccessful rebellious attempt to overthrow the regime of the Defenders of the Constitution in Serbia. The author shall firstly provide a short introductory account of the rebellion, after which the formation and work of the summary criminal court shall be analyzed. Some sort of ‘pre-investigation’, conducted by Toma Vučić Perišić, the most distinguished personality within the regime of the Defenders of the Constitution, was provided with an unlimited mandate to quell the rebellion. The appointment and personalities of the judges will also be the subject of scrutiny, since it is an indication of the (im) partiality of a trial. The exposition will then continue with the lines having an inquiry carried out by the summary criminal court for the topic; the author shall put forward the presentation of evidence (the statements of the suspects, confrontations between the suspects, witness’ statements, confrontations between suspects and witnesses, documentary evidence and guarantors). The next part of the paper shall be judgmentpassing; among the questions belonging to that matter, punishments, the mental element, mitigating/aggravating circumstances, and illegalities committed by the court in that stage of the proceedings will all be presented to the readers.