Property as a subject of protection in criminal law (selected examples)
Czasopismo Prawa Karnego i Nauk Penalnych Rok XXII: 2018, numer 3
Journal of Criminal Law and Penal Studies Volume XXII: 2018, No. 3
Tomasz Tyburcy - Ph.D., lawyer in the legal adviser's office
Full text in PDF (open access)
Keywords
property, property rights, item, possession, ownership
Summary
The term “property” has three distinct meanings in the Polish Criminal Code. The first meaning is identical with an approach presented in civil law and refers to the generic object of protection. Therefore, “property” is understood in an abstract manner as a set of property rights. The second meaning attributed to the term “property” refers to criminal law and should be taken into account when defining the object upon which the activity of the perpetrator conducting the prohibited act is directed. In this sense “property” has a concrete nature and is synonymous with the notion of “thing”. It should be understood as referring to the specific material objects that are physical reflections of property rights (property in sense used in civil law). In legal doctrine, there is also a third way of understanding this term, which assumes the civil law meaning (property rights) in relation to a particular thing or energy. It seems that property exists on two levels: property rights (normative sphere) to things (physical sphere). This way of understanding the concept of “property” appears optimal, for example, to define the individual object of protection under Article 278 § 1 of the Polish Criminal Code. This meaning favors the coherence of the Polish Criminal Code because it defines the object upon which the activity of perpetrator conducting the prohibited act is directed in relation to the individual object of protection (property rights). Property as an object of perpetrator’s behavior has, depending on the type of a prohibited act, a narrower or wider scope of meaning. In a narrower sense, which should be adopted in the case of larceny, it generally includes things and energy. On the other hand, in a broader sense, property signifies all property rights and obligations and should be understood in this manner, for example, in cases of crimes of fraud or theft by extortion.
