A New Doctrine of Essence, Exhaustive List and Legislative Opinion on General Legal Circumstances, which Exclude Anti-Social Action

Abstract

Following comparative analysis of relevant national and post-soviet Criminal Codes as well as the Criminal Code of France the article proposes to provide in future Constitutional Code of Ukraine or other state an exhaustive legal list of circumstances which exempt anti-social activity. In this regard the essence, grounds and limits of acts connected with innocent ignorance of legal norms should be presented. Those acts are conflict of laws, short-term collision of various social subjects' legal statuses, necessary defense, emergency, actions in the state of the proved risk, arrest of the person who committed a crime, commission of crime as a result of psychiatric or physical influence, commission of offense as a result of performance of a legal order or instruction, and commission of offense as a result of fulfillment of special task based on warning, detection, termination and solving of an organized group. After the text the essence, grounds and limits of acts of the mentioned circumstances in the context of counteraction to certain type of offense should be provided. A special understanding of circumstances which exempt anti-social activity depending on the fact whether certain or uncertain persons commit the act and whether they can be protected taking into account necessary defense has been investigated. The other article of the Constitutional Code of Ukraine or other state should include general legal definition, form and types of guilt as well as the list of circumstances which exempt, alleviate or aggravate the guilt of the person. Circumstances which exempt should include para-accident or para-special case, legal or factual mistake, pretended circumstance which exempts anti-social act, legal insanity and limited sanity of the person.