Don Juan, the Law and Byronic Self-Defence

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-54
Author(s):  
Fiona Milne
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Criminal Prosecution ◽  
Don Juan ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Law ◽  
Civil Courts ◽  
Self Defence

From the publication of the first two cantos of Don Juan in 1819, the poem’s legal status was in doubt. Although never found blasphemous or seditious in a criminal court, Byron’s copyright in Don Juan was not upheld by the civil courts, owing to the possibility that the poem might be ‘injurious’ to the public. Alongside these courtroom debates, Byron and his poetry came under increasingly intense scrutiny before the figurative ‘tribunal of the public’, in periodicals and newspapers. Reviewers and commentators appraised Don Juan in the vocabulary of the criminal law, assuming the roles of advocate, jury and judge. This article analyses some of these legal and quasi-legal attacks, and investigates how Byron engaged with them. Don Juan, I propose, bears traces of the legal pressures Byron faced, absorbing the threat of criminal prosecution and exploring the question of what an oppositional statement of self-defence might look like.

scholarly journals Extrajudicial Forms of Protecting Rights and Freedoms of a Person in the Field of Criminal Law Relations: Conceptual Aspects and Improvement of State Response

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 210-219
Author(s):  
Alexander Smirnov ◽  
Andrey Santashov
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Psychological State ◽  
Criminal Prosecution ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Self Defense ◽  
Legal Forms

The article describes the conceptual basis for a new special research theory — extrajudicial forms of protecting rights and freedoms of a person in the field of criminal law relations. The authors introduce the concept of these forms and their system consisting of legal and non-legal forms of such protection. It is concluded that the reaction of the state to the implementation of legal extrajudicial forms of protecting rights and freedoms of a person in the field of criminal law relations should be improved with the purpose of ensuring greater justice when making decisions on criminal prosecution for the self-defense of the legal status of a person in the analyzed sphere of relations. The authors offer a number of suggestions on changes and amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation that would improve the effectiveness of this reaction. On the other hand, non-legal forms of self-defense in the field of criminal law relations should be prevented. The authors present a list of factors determining the existence of these forms in the Russian society, some of which, due to certain circumstances both in the past and present period of the deve­lopment of Russian state and society, have an «excusable» character. These factors include both global (the spread of various discrimination practices, ideas of extremism and religious radicalism; the escalation of violence) and national factors (historical predetermination of state and public development; features of cultural development of the Russian society; specifics of the implementation of state policy and public administration activities; drawbacks of criminal law regulation of social processes and law enforcement activities; destructive practices of social relations; moral and psychological state of the society; influence of propaganda; defective educational and pedagogical influences, etc.). The authors also present a system of preventive measures aimed at eradicating non-legal forms of the analyzed extrajudicial protection. This system includes measures of developing a state reaction to crimes that would correspond to social expectations, ensuring a greater strictness of criminal law, unavoidability of prosecution, as well as measures of moral rehabilitation of the Russian society, raising the level of its legal conscience and culture. The authors suggest the introduction of a norm that establishes criminal liability for usurping the power of the court connected with the administration of justice.

scholarly journals The History of the Development of the French Laws on Criminal Liability of Legal Entities

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 46-56
Author(s):  
Aleksandr V. Fedorov ◽  
◽  
Mikhail V. Krichevtsev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Economic Crime ◽  
Penal Code ◽  
Criminal Prosecution ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Law ◽  
Legal Entities

The article reviews the history of development of French laws on criminal liability of legal entities. The authors note that the institution of criminal liability of legal entities (collective criminal liability) dates back to the ancient times and has been forming in the French territory for a long time. Initially, it was established in the acts on collective liability residents of certain territories, in particular, in the laws of the Salian Franks. This institution was inherited from the Franks by the law of the medieval France, and got transferred from the medieval period to the French criminal law of the modern period. The article reviews the laws of King Louis XIV as an example of establishment of collective criminal liability: the Criminal Ordinance of 1670 and the Ordinances on Combating Vagrancy and Goods Smuggling of 1706 and 1711. For the first time ever, one can study the Russian translation of the collective criminal liability provisions of the said laws. The authors state that although the legal traditions of collective liability establishment were interrupted by the transformations caused by the French Revolution of 1789 to 1794, criminal liability of legal entities remained in Article 428 of the French Penal Code of 1810 as a remnant of the past and was abolished only as late as in 1957. The publication draws attention to the fact that the criminal law codification process was not finished in France, and some laws stipulating criminal liability of legal entities were in effect in addition to the French Penal Code of 1810: the Law on the Separation of Church and State of December 9, 1905; the Law of January 14, 1933; the Law on Maritime Trade of July 19, 1934; the Ordinance on Criminal Prosecution of the Press Institutions Cooperating with Enemies during World War II of May 5, 1945. The authors describe the role of the Nuremberg Trials and the documents of the Council of Europe in the establishment of the French laws on criminal liability of legal entities, in particular, Resolution (77) 28 On the Contribution of Criminal Law to the Protection of the Environment, Recommendation No. R (81) 12 On Economic Crime, the Recommendation No. R (82) 15 On the Role of Criminal Law in Consumer Protection and Recommendation No. (88) 18 of the Committee of Ministers to Member States Concerning Liability of Enterprises Having Legal Personality for Offences Committed in the Exercise of Their Activities. The authors conclude that the introduction of the institution of criminal liability of legal entities is based on objective conditions and that research of the history of establishment of the laws on collective liability is of great importance for understanding of the modern legal regulation of the issues of criminal liability of legal entities.

Criminal law measures to combat provocation of crimes and falsification of criminals

2021 ◽  
pp. 127
Author(s):  
Viktor N. Borkov
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Legal Aspects ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Criminal Prosecution ◽  
Actual Problem ◽  
The Individual

The article examines the criminal-legal aspects of the actual problem of protecting the inviolability of the individual from the unacceptable activity of state representatives in the exercise of law enforcement functions. Topical issues for theory and practice of the legal nature of the provocation of crime and the falsification of criminals remain debatable. There are no unified approaches to the qualification of provocative and inflammatory actions and cases of "throwing" objects to citizens, for the turnover of which criminal responsibility arises, there is no theoretical justification for the criminal legal status of persons provoked to commit a crime. The article shows that the qualification of common cases of provocation of crimes and falsification of criminals according to the norms providing for liability for abuse of official authority, falsification of evidence or the results of operational investigative activities should be recognized as not accurate. At the same time, responsibility for these actions committed by subjects who are not officials, and without the participation of the latter, has not been established at all. The author proposes a draft criminal law provision providing for liability for inducing to commit a crime or its staging in order to illegally create grounds for criminal prosecution. The paper questions the approach according to which a person provoked by law enforcement officers to commit a crime is not subject to criminal liability regardless of the specifics of the encroachment.

Cauzele justificative și transmiterea unor boli infectocontagioase

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (2020) ◽  
pp. 319-347
Author(s):  
Dorel HERINEAN ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Social Value ◽  
Legal Practice ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Times ◽  
Near Future

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this article analyses some possibilities provided by the law in order to protect the public health or the health of an individual, respectively the commission of certain actions sanctioned by the criminal law under the incidence of the justification causes, with the consequence of their lack of criminal character. Whether it is the means of retaliation or rescue that can be used by a person facing the transmission of infectious diseases, the actions necessary to prevent or combat the pandemic that the law authorizes or the availability or not of a person's health as a social value, the situations that may appear in the near future in the legal practice have not been previously studied by the doctrine and have an element of novelty. Thus, the article makes, based on some theoretical exercises, a punctual analysis of some problems of application and interpretation that could intervene and for which are offered, most of the times, generic, principled landmarks, but also some concrete solutions on the incidence or exclusion from the application of the justification causes.

7. Contraception, Abortion, and Pregnancy

2020 ◽  
pp. 320-411
Author(s):  
Jonathan Herring
Keyword(s):  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Teenage Pregnancy ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Tort Liability ◽  
Unborn Child ◽  
The Law ◽  
And Function ◽  
Legal Interventions

This chapter examines the legal and ethical aspects of contraception, abortion, and pregnancy. Topics discussed include the use and function of contraception; the availability of contraception; teenage pregnancy rates; tort liability and contraception; ethical issues concerning contraception; the law on abortion; the legal status of the foetus; abortion ethics; and controversial abortions. A major current issue is the extent to which, if at all, the criminal law should be involved in the law of abortion. The chapter also considers arguments on legal interventions for pregnant women; for example, imprisoning a drug-using mother to ensure that her unborn child does not suffer from the consequences of her drug use.

14. General defences

2019 ◽  
pp. 570-618
Author(s):  
John Child ◽  
David Ormerod
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
Legal Reform ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Self Defence

This chapter deals with general complete defences that the accused can use to avoid liability. The focus is on defences that can apply (with one exception) to offences throughout the criminal law and will result in the accused’s acquittal. Five kinds of general complete defences are examined: insanity (as a defence), duress by threats, duress by circumstances, the public and private defence (also known as self-defence), and necessity. The chapter first considers the categorical division between excuses and justifications, before explaining the elements of each of the defences in turn. It then outlines potential options for legal reform concerning individual defences and concludes by discussing the application of the general defences to problem facts. Relevant cases are highlighted throughout the chapter, with brief summaries of the main facts and judgments.

The expert witness in the criminal and civil courts

2020 ◽  
pp. 1469-1477
Author(s):  
John O’Grady
Keyword(s):  
Special Reference ◽  
Expert Witness ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
The Law ◽  
Civil Courts

The psychiatric expert witness in court acts at the interface between psychiatry and the law. This chapter explores the legal, ethical, and procedural frameworks for this work, with special reference to the criminal court in common law jurisdictions.

scholarly journals Defenceless Castles

2016 ◽  
Vol 80 (6) ◽  
pp. 407-427
Author(s):  
Mark P Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
The Law ◽  
Self Defence ◽  
True Intention

On 16 January 2016, the Divisional Court gave judgment in the case of Collins. In the judgment, Sir Brian Leveson P provided an authoritative statement as to the meaning of ‘grossly disproportionate’ within the law of self-defence for householders. First introduced in 2013, clarity on the meaning of the phrase has been long awaited by both the academic and the practitioner. The court’s interpretation of the phrase has disturbed the understanding of many and will cause many editions of upcoming criminal law textbooks to be rewritten on this point. This paper will examine whether the Divisional Court was correct in its interpretation by attempting to find the true intention of Parliament in drafting the legislation. The paper will also examine how the householder defences operates in modern practice and its suitability to the law of self-defence.

Part 3 General Principles of Criminal Law: Principes Généraux Du Droit Pénal, Art.24 Non-retroactivity ratione personae /Non-rétroactivité ratione personae

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Schabas William A
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Simple Manner ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Law ◽  
Principle Of Legality

This chapter comments on Article 24 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Preceded by two provisions that entrench two Latin maxims described collectively as the principle of legality, article 24 completes the treatment of the subject in Part 3 of the Rome Statute. Article 24 promises the accused that if there is a change in the law applicable to a given case prior to a final judgment, ‘the law more favourable shall apply’. However, this rule giving the defendant the benefit of the ‘more favourable’ provision is not without difficulties. It is not always a simple manner to determine which rule is in fact more favourable. Moreover, there may be an important element of subjectivity, in that individuals may differ in their assessment.

scholarly journals Criminal Liability for Knowingly Unlawful Sentence, Decision or Other Judicial Act

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 93-102
Author(s):  
Pavel Metelsky ◽  
Nadezhda Verchenko
Keyword(s):  
Russian Federation ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Criminal Prosecution ◽  
The Public ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Considerable Complexity

Introduction. The publication is devoted to the corpus delicti, provided for by Art. 305 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which, being, in fact, a special type of official abuse, stands out as the direct object of a criminal assault and a special subject, since it can be committed exclusively by professional judges. The main features of the objective and subjective parties, qualifying signs of the offense are revealed, some problems that arise when applying this criminal law are outlined. Purpose. The goal is to analyze the design features of the crime and issues that arise when applying this rule. Methodology. The method of a formal legal analysis of the norms of the criminal law and theoretical provisions on problems directly related to the application of this rule was used. Results. The public danger of a criminal act that undermines the very foundations of justice is obvious, in connection with which it stands out as an independent crime by all the Russian Criminal Codes, starting in 1922, the history of criminal responsibility for its commission can be traced in our country in general since the 16th century. The current criminal law prohibition is characterized by considerable complexity, due to both the blanket nature of the disposition of the norm itself and the presence of discrepancies in the understanding of the signs embodied in it. Conclusion. The implementation of criminal liability for this crime involves the establishment of not only circumstances directly related to the corpus delicti that lie in the criminal law field. The subject of an infringement, a judicial act, must be subjected to procedural review without fail, after which, subject to the consent of the Higher Qualification Collegium of Judges of the Russian Federation, in fact, and the mechanism of criminal prosecution is “launched”. That is, a truly “multi-way” combination of actions is necessary, carried out in several stages, and the problem itself to some extent becomes interdisciplinary, going beyond only criminal law.

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