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282

From the sovereignty of the monarch flows the right of pardon for criminals, for to it alone belongs the actualization of the power of spirit to make undone what has been done, and to annihilate the crime through forgiving and forgetting.

The right of pardon is one of the highest acknowledgments of the majesty of spirit. — This right belongs, moreover, among the applications or reflections of the determinations of a higher sphere upon a preceding one. — Such applications, however, belong to the particular science that has to treat its subject matter within its empirical scope (cf. Remark and note to § 270). — Among such applications also belongs the fact that violations of the state in general, or of the sovereignty, majesty, and personality of the prince, are subsumed under the concept of crime treated earlier (§§ 95–102), and indeed as the highest crimes, with the particular mode of procedure, etc., determined accordingly.

DE

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2 responses to “282”

  1. Eduard Gans (Additions) Avatar
    Eduard Gans (Additions)

    Pardon is the remission of punishment, which, however, does not annul the right. This remains, rather, and the pardoned person is a criminal as before; grace does not declare that he committed no crime. This annulment of the punishment can take place through religion, for what has happened can be made undone by spirit within spirit. Insofar as this is accomplished in the world, however, it has its place only in majesty and can belong only to a groundless decision.

  2. Karl Marx Avatar
    Karl Marx

    The right of pardon is the right of grace. Grace is the highest expression of contingent arbitrariness, which Hegel meaningfully makes the true attribute of the monarch. In the Addition itself Hegel determines its origin as »the groundless decision«.

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