Published: 2022-12-30

Is the concept of complicity involved in the Polish law on petty offences?

Marek Kulik
Zeszyty Prawnicze
Section: Artykuły
https://doi.org/10.21697/zp.2022.22.4.01

Abstract

This paper concerns the question whether it is possible to construe complicity in the Polish law on petty offences. The idea of complicity has generally been accepted in the doctrine, but no grounds have been given for this. Sometimes the similarity of petty offences to crimes has been pointed out. In recent years, several interesting studies have appeared in which this possibility is challenged. Some authors have quite rightly observed that the extension of the offender’s liability to a co-offender who does not fulfill all the statutory conditions defining the offence cannot be based merely on analogy, which is what the grounds for joint liability derived from Article 18 § 1 of the Polish Criminal Code imply. Due to the fact that the provisions of the Polish Petty Offences Code do not explicitly provide for complicity, it is incumbent on those who consider the use of this construction justified on the grounds of the law on petty offences to prove the validity of their position, in accordance with the principle of ei incumbit probatio, qui dicit, non qui negat. Although the regulation of complicity in the Criminal Code cannot be applied merely on the grounds of analogy to the Petty Offences Code, arguments in favour of admitting the construction of complicity in the petty offences law should be derived from the Criminal Code, that is from the way the commission of an offence is defined.

Keywords:

complicity; petty offence.

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Citation rules

Kulik, M. (2022). Is the concept of complicity involved in the Polish law on petty offences?. Zeszyty Prawnicze, 22(4), 7–31. https://doi.org/10.21697/zp.2022.22.4.01

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