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The brief monograph at hand deals with the issue Death Penalty from a legal history standpoint. Here, after some introductory remarks on pre-state societies (hunters and gatherers), the following historic eras are subject matter: The Code of Hammurabi and Sumerian precursors, Germanic Law, the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages.

Target groups of this publication particularly are criminal lawyers, legal historians and general historians, self-evidently also students of such academic subjects.

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Dr. Volker Krey, Full Professor of Law (criminal law, criminal procedure law, and legal methodology) at the State University of Trier; Judge of the Court of Appeals, criminal division, City of Koblenz (1978 & 1998).

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