Doctrinal circulations in criminal law 1764-1914

Although criminal law books were comparatively rare before the middle of the eighteenth century, Beccaria's Dei delitti e delle pene (1764) triggered the development of an enormous literature devoted to penal issues (from philosophical foundations to debates related to prisons) in Europe until 1914. In one and a half centuries, more than 20,000 books were published on these issues, of which about half were published in German lands and the remainder in Italy, France, Great Britain/United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and the Netherlands. Both philosophers and sociologists participated to these intellectual exchanges. This paper tries to analyse different ways for measuring the circulation of these texts (translations, quotations especially in footnotes, catalogues of private and public libraries, correspondence and travels). Although the debates were clearly transnational, there were also obstacles in the diffusion of foreign books. After evaluating these linguistic or cultural obstacles and considering the changing contexts between the first and second halves of the nineteenth century, this article outlines three conclusions about the globalisation and non-globalisation of legal concepts during this period.