Dorthe Christensen
The Danish absolute monarchy and corruption among district judges

The article deals with two particular cases of corruption among district judges (herredsfogder) in Århus County in the beginning of the 19th century. It shows how the absolute monarchy dealt with these cases on the political as well as the juridical level. Politically the problem of corruption was taken very seriously. The central administration initiated increased control measures among the local officials and followed up on this initiative by carrying out further investigations if financial deficits were discovered. At the juridical level an important aspect was that the relevant legislation was relatively old and had been unable to keep pace with the developments in local administration, which made the application very difficult. During the subsequent period the absolute monarchy responded by making a considerable effort in expanding and improving the laws concerning corruption. It is possible that this harsh and consequent line in the absolute monarchy's treatment of corruption may have set the standards for the succeeding periods and thereby contributed to the low level of corruption in contemporary Danish state administration.