Criminal Law Flashcards
What are the Criminal Law Principles and what do they mean?
1) Guilt Principle (Shuldprinzip): Nulla poena sine culpa -» no penalty without guilt
2) Principle of Legality (Gesetzlichkeitsprinzip): Nulla crimen, nulla poena sine lege -» no crime and no penalty without a law
3) Requirement of written Form (Schriftlichkeitsgebot): nulla poena sine lege scritpa -» no penalty without written law
4) Prohibition of Analogy (Analogieverbot): nulla poena sine lega stricta -» no penalty without a concrete law
5) Principle of Certainty (Bestimmtheitsgebot): nulla poena sine lege certa -» no penalty without a determinate law
6) Prohibition of Retroactivity (Rueckwirkungsverbot): nulla poena sine lege praevia -» no penalty without a previous law
How is the German Criminal Code divided?
The criminal code is divided into 2 parts: a general part with provisions that apply to every offence: age, responsibility, forms of offence,… ) and a special part with special offences
What are the elements of a crime?
- Objective elements:
o a person and
o an offence - Subjective elements: intent
Which different forms of intent exists in German Law?
There exist 3 different forms of intent in German Law:
1) first degree intent (Absicht): the offender wants to commit the offence and knows about the consequences of his action
2) second degree intent (direkter Vorsatz): the offender does not want to commit the offence, but knows about the consequences of his actions
3) contingent intent (bedingter Vorsatz): the offender does not want the offence to be committed and does not know about the specific consequences, but accepts eventual consequences
What are possible reasons for justification?
1) Self-defence: (human behaviour)
a. Self-defence situation (Notwehrlage): current unlawful attack
b. Act of self-defence (Notwehrhandlung): suitability and necessity; no balncing of legal interests, but exclusion of a blatant imbalance
2) Justifying emergency: (non-human behaviour)
a. Emergency situation (Notstandslage): current danger
b. Emergency measure (Notstandshandlung): requires proportionality (suitability, necessity and balancing of legal interests)
List the elements of self-defence:
- Current: the attack is imminent, is currently taking place or is still ongoing
- Unlawful: the attack is not justified
- Attack: threat to legal interests through human behaviour
What can be reasons for lack of guiltiness?
What can be reasons for lack of guiltiness?
What are the steps to solve a case of Criminal law?
1) Offence
a. Objective element: describe what happened
b. Subjective elements: intent?
2) Illegality: reasons for justification, depends on the behaviour (self-defence or justifying emergency)
3) Guilt: depends on the person (under 14, medication, …)
4) Result: person made (or not) himself liable for the offence under article XXX by XXX.
What means “unlawfully entering”?
Unlawfully entering means entering a room against the will of the authorized person in such a way that the perpetrator has entered the room with at least a part of his body.
What characterizes a “secured property”?
A secured property is a demarcated spatial area assigned to a authorized person, which is secured against unauthorized access by others by means of externally recognizable boundaries.
What does “home” mean?
Home refers to premises whose main purpose is to serve people for permanent use without being primarily work premises. The possibility of overnight accommodation is not required.
What does “business premises” mean?
Business premises refer to operating and sales premises that are used temporarily or permanently for commercial, artistic, scientific or similar purposes
What is the difference between manslaughter and a murder in German law?
Both refer to the act of killing a person. However, murder is killing a person out of
* Lust of murder
* Satisfaction of sexual desire
* Greed
* Base motives
* Insidiously
* Cruelly
* Means dangerous to the public
* To facilitate or conceal another offence
What does lust for murder mean?
Lust of murder refers to the act of killing a person to see a person dying.
What characterizes a dangerous mean to the public?
It refers to the likelihood of endangering the life or limb of several uninvolved persons in addition to the specific victim, because the offender is not able to safely control in the specific situation
