Printed version
Translation of this document is below. There is a second, handwritten document of the same date containing more details, some of which are summarized at the bottom of this page.
Two brief comments here: 1) 8 months of prison labor, 150 miles from home, seems remarkably harsh for theft of mostly food, by a poor mother with four or five hungry daughters at home. 2) The appeals cited, from the local court, through the diocesan(?) "higher court," to the Supreme Court (Høyesterrett) for all of Norway, with a defense attorney, seem like remarkably good "due process" for a poor person in those days (or even in present-day America). More on the blog.
Translation
By Berit Carlsen
April 23, record No. 175, Lawyer Andresen "Actor mod"- attorney (? for or against??) Anne Larsdatter Skurdalshougen.
1. The accused, who, after order by Christians Amt (county) of
2. May 6 previous, is charged with breakin and theft, is
3. by own confession and the other info from the case,
4. [the court is] completely convinced that, in March
5-6. l840, together with 2 other people also accused - in lower court
(6)- at 3 different times by
7. breakin in 2 unoccupied houses during the night
8. to have stolen a lot of foodstuffs and clothing, etc. (m.m. = med mere: with more),
9. which all, except for some insignificant items
10. for which compensation has been dropped, has been retrieved.
11. The robberies were performed with the help of a hooked pole,
12. which she brought, and at one place, where
13. the theft occurred in a stabur (food storage building), she locked the outer
14. door of the dwelling which was situated 20-30 alen
15. away (alen = approx. half a meter or 2'), under the assumption that people
16. would be present there, which turned out to be the case.
17. By the order of the Sorenskriver in So. Gudbrandsdal
18. and Froen under June 1 previous, the pronounced sentence,
19. which in Aker's diocese higher court of Aug. 17 next,
20. confirmed, so far was appealed, the
21. "Angj." .... accused?.... was sentenced to 8 mos. prison work; and
22. in Høyesterett (the Supreme Court) the sentence given by the [diocese of?] Agershuus higher court was
23. declared to stand.
Hand-written Version
A few further details have been gleaned at great effort from the Gothic cursive version of this document. The complete list of items stolen amounts to: approx. 4-5 gallons of potatoes, some butter, flour, cured herring, a bottle(?), a "few items of clothing," and some linen thread. This, in cooperation with two other persons, doesn't seem like much.
Anne's defense argued that the two accomplices should also have been imprisoned; the judges partially agreed but declined to soften Anne's sentence. The presiding judge commented on Anne's "boldness" and "bad reputation,"(?) but on the other hand, her poverty(!). A total of four judges signed off on the sentence. To view the document (warning: large file 1.5 Mb) click here.
There is a little more information forthcoming from an (mid-level) appeals court document currently under review.