forensics legal stuff Flashcards
Courts of law Structure:
- District courts (court of first instance)
- County court (court of first instance or appeal)
- High courts of appeal
- Supreme court
Jurisdiction (subject) and competence (geographical area) Protect, punish, educate and control
Responsibility of the court.
Jurisdiction (subject) and competence (geographical area)
- Protect the order of the state and society, citizens’ rights and legal interests
- Punish those who committed a crime
- Educate to respect law by impose, executing and enforcing punishment
- Control legality of state administrative orders
Impartiality of courts
- Independence of judges: not influenced or ordered
- Election of judges (Parliament, President): diploma in law, experience and practice, clear past record)
- Participation of the society in judgment (lay assessors)
- Publicity
- Appealable decisions
Responsibilities of the prosecutor’s office
- Control and protection of legality in all fields
- Prosecution of crimes
- Protection of citizenship rights
- Control, supervision of legality of procedures
- Representation of prosecution in legal proceedings
- Participation in private cases
- Supervision of penitentiary system
- Order, supervise or carry out investigations
Participants in civil suit
- Court (judge/s)
- (Public prosecutor)
- Plaintiff: voluntary role
- Defendant: forced role
- Intercessor: legal interest, voluntary (e.g insurance company) or accepted role
- Representatives
Evidences of civil suit
- Witness testimony
- Forensic expert opinion(s)
- Physical evidences
- Documents
- Inspection
- Judgement
- Appeal
- Final judgement
- Extraordinary remedies (review, retrial)
- Enforcement
Means of Evidence
• Shall be the testimony of the witness, the expert opinion, physical evidence, documents and the pleadings of the defendant
• Evidence shall be traced, gathered, secured and used in compliance with the law.
• In the course of criminal proceedings, all means of evidence and all evidentiary
procedures may be used without restriction. However, the use of certain means of evidence may also be statutory
Participants in criminal procedure
- Court(judge/s)
- Public prosecutor
- Investigative authority (police, public prosecutor, customs and finance guard)
- Accused person(defendant)
- Victim (injured party)
- Private accuser (e.g. libel, invasion of privacy)
- Substitute private accuser (civil suitor)
- Their representatives
Evidence in a criminal case
- Physical evidence
- Experts opinion
- Witness testimony
- Documents
- Inspection
Committing a crime with intent meaning
A criminal offense is committed with intent if a person conceives a plan to achieve a certain result, or acquiesces the consequences of his conduct
Who may refuse to testify as a witness in criminal procedure.
- Relative of the defendant
- Those who would incriminate themselves or their relatives on the related issues
- Bound by secrecy owing to their profession or public office
Common mistakes when given forensic expert opinion
- Not up to date methods
- Definite without reason
- Giving opinion in questions beyond his competence
- True statement but not justified/explained enough
- Not taking into account the specialties of the case, stereotyped
- Not clear enough to everybody (e.g. professional terms without explanation)
- Not keeping the deadline (may ask for postpone)
Who may not act as an expert
- Who have participated in the case as a defendant,
- Counsel for the defendant, a victim, complainant or a representative thereof, or who is a relative of the above,
- who have acted in the case as a judge, prosecutor or a member of the investigating authority, or who is a relative thereof,
- who have participated in the case as a witness,
- who have been employed in the case as an advisor,
- who cannot be expected to form an unbiased expert opinion for other reasons.
Perclusion of punishment in criminal law
- Being below the age of criminal responsibility;
- Insanity;
- Coercion and threat;
- Mistake;
- Justifiable defense;
- Means of last resort;
- Statutory authorization;
- Other grounds defined by law
Define breach of contract
Any act or behavior of the obligor (seller) or obligee (buyer) that prevents or encumbers the realization of the aim of contract or leads to any defect of the performance
• Obligor’s delay
• Obligee’s delay (late acceptance)
• Impossibility of performance
• Withholding performance (refuse to perform) § Defective performance (lack of conformity)