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95

The first coercion, as violence exercised by one who is free, which violates the existence of freedom in its concrete sense — right as right — is crime, — a negatively infinite judgment in its complete sense (see my Logic, vol. |94| II, p. 99) 1, through which not only the particular, the subsumption of a thing under my will (§ 85), but at the same time the universal, the infinite in the predicate of what is mine, capacity for rights, and indeed without the mediation of my opinion (as in fraud; § 88), is likewise negated against this — the sphere of penal law.

The right whose violation is crime has, up to this point, only had the shapes we have seen, and crime accordingly, for now, only the more specific meaning that relates to these determinations.2 But what is substantial in these forms is the universal, which remains the same through its further development and formation, and therefore so too does its violation, crime, according to its concept. The particular, more specifically determined content — e.g., in perjury, crimes against the state, counterfeiting of coin or of bills of exchange, and so on — is therefore also affected by the determination to be considered in the following §.

  1. Science of Logic, vol. II: The Subjective Logic (1816), p. 99 = GW 12, p. 70: “Infinite judgement” – crime as the negatively infinite judgement ↩︎
  2. Hegel’s Handexemplar. namely, to property, as in individual things — and to the body, parts thereof, life — ↩︎

DE ES

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2 responses to “95”

  1. Hegel (Notes) Avatar
    Hegel (Notes)

    [zu § 95] a positively infinite judgment, the singular is the singular – the empty semblance of a judgment, in which the universal is lacking in the predicate –
    I am treated as a non-rightful [being], not as a person –
    Coercion: in Rome the Jews must every year listen to a polemical sermon directed against them.
    – in Swabia, enthusiasts took the Emperor Napoleon for the Messiah, a thousand-year kingdom – no taxes and so on, obedience toward the authorities; – locked up in a fortress and compelled to attend the sermon – imprisonment placed under a general compulsion of life – permitted and made to keep to what belongs to ordinary life; – one is also compelled to eat, if someone wishes to starve himself.
    The personal will is abstract; hence α) it is possible in general for it to be compelled (rightly and wrongly); β) it is rightfully possible, and necessary, when it is, as abstract, null, through the subjective will.

    [zu § 95 Anm.] Higher determinations (of the existence) of freedom than mere personality – a higher right – also to posit itself externally.
    – namely to property, as [existing] in individual things – and to the body, parts thereof, life –
    Application within a positive legislation –
    At this stage such relations of property – of rightful obligations – do not yet obtain, – but crime in general is a violation of the will that is in itself, [a will] that falls into a thing – the state is the ethical in actuality, an existence that is [actually] present – not in sensation, feeling, disposition – as, in part, the family is – having its completion, resting upon it, wavering, indeterminate – but rather developed into an actual natural existence – a necessity, a physical organization – hence coercion.

  2. Hegel (Simple) Avatar
    Hegel (Simple)

    § 95: What a crime is

    Now it is clear what a crime is. A person is the first to use violence. He violates not just a thing. He violates right as right.

    What sets crime apart?

    In an honest dispute, someone says: “This is not yours.” He only disputes the other’s claim to this thing.

    In fraud, the wrongdoer at least pretends to respect right.

    The criminal, by contrast, negates everything. He says more than: “This is not yours.” He treats the other as if he had no rights at all. As if he were no person. And he does this openly, without any semblance.

    Here penal law begins.

    So far we have met only a few forms of right: property, contract, one’s own body. Later many more come in, up to the state. But the concept of crime holds for all of them. Perjury, high treason and forging money are also crimes in this sense.

    Summary: Crime is violence against right itself. It negates not just a piece of property but the person as a bearer of rights. Here penal law begins.

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