Criminal Law

Prerequisits:
No special requirements

Content :
I. Introduction:
- Analysis of the legality principle at postgraduate level (case-law of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia and the ECtHR;
- Sources of criminal law and methods of legal reasoning at postgraduate level, especially as regards EU criminal law;

II. General features of criminal law:
- Use of criminal law (criminal law legislation, general part and specific part, codification, special and supplementing criminal law legislation, jurisprudence of regular courts, legal opinions of the joint session of the Supreme Court, decisions of the Constitutional Court), at postgraduate level, including special legislation for criminal responsibility of legal persons (Slovenia, comparative and in EU law)
- Application of criminal law legislation: territorial, temporal and personal;

III. Basics of criminal law:
- Human action as a precondition for criminal responsibility;
- The objective-subjective theory of a criminal offence;
- Consequences and causal link at postgraduate level;
- Preparatory offences, attempt and finished criminal offence at postgraduate level, including with modern trends of criminalising preparatory offences;
- Concurrence and apparent concurrence of criminal offences at postgraduate level;
- The notion Illegality.

IV. Guilt
- Relationship between guilt, criminal offence and penalty;
- Insanity, error (fact or law), necessity and other types of exclusion of guilt at postgraduate level;
- Detailed analysis of the concept of error in law at postgraduate level.

V. Prescription in criminal law
- The nature of prescription (procedural or material law);
- Prescription and ECtHR case-law;
- Prescription and EU criminal law.

VI. Modern trends as regards penalties and other types of sanctions
- Penalties (type, rules on sentencing);
- Admonitory sanctions;
- Safety measures and legal consequences of conviction, taking into account ECtHR case-law;
- Civil sanctions in criminal law.

VII. Specific part:
- An overview of certain offences at postgraduate level (international criminal offences, terrorism, corruption, commercial offences, blanket norms).
- Criminal law judgment – analysis at postgraduate level.

Readings:

Required readings:
- Kazenski zakonik (KZ-1), Uradni list RS, št. 55/08 in nasl.
- Zakon o odgovornosti pravnih oseb za kazniva dejanja (ZOPOKD), Uradni list RS, št. 59/99 z dne 23. 7. 1999 in nasl.
- Klip André, European Criminal Law, 3. Izdaja, 2016
- Komentar KZ-1, Splošni del, GV Založba, 2021
- Korošec, Damjan, et al., Veliki znanstveni komentar posebnega dela KZ-1, Uradni list, 2019
- De Bondt et al, Liability of legal persons for offences in the EU, 2014
- Deisinger Mitja, Zakon o odgovornosti pravnih oseb za kazniva dejanja : s komentarjem, sodno prakso in literaturo, PZMB, 2020.

Recommended readings:
- Bavcon et. al, Kazensko pravo, Splošni del, Uradni list, 2017
- Deisinger, Mitja, Kazenski zakonik 2017, Posebni del, PZMB, 2017
- Bele, Ivan, et al., Kazenski zakonik: KZ-1 in KZ-UPB1, GV Založba, 2008.
- Beccaria, Cesare, O zločinih in kaznih, in Jelenc, Franc Ksaver, Dva govora o splošnih načelih kriminalnega prava in njegovi literarni zgodovini (uredil Ljubo Bavcon), Pravna fakulteta in Cankarjeva založba, Ljubljana, 2002
- Cassese, Antonio, International Criminal Law, Oxford University Press, 2013
- Roxin Claus, Strafrecht. Allgemeiner Teil I: Grundlagen. Der Aufbau der Verbrechenslehre, Beck, 2005
- Izbrana judikatura Ustavnega sodišča RS in ESČP

Objectives and competences:

Students will develop the following general competences: :

• Ability to take into account and enhance ethical values, socially responsible thinking and critical relationship to social developments when taking decisions, regardless of the topic and level of decision-taking at postgraduate level;
• Self-initiative and independent decision-making;
• Specialised legal knowledge as regards obligatory study courses;
• Ability to use theory in legal practice, including the ability to solve difficult cases requiring a synthesis of different legal areas; and ability to prepare difficult legal instruments;
• Ability of teamwork;
• Understanding and use of legal syllogism and argumentation, general communication skills, ability to present gathered information inside and outside the organisation setting and in international environment;
• Ability to use different interpretative methods for understanding of legal texts;
• Ability of advanced scientific-research work and to search for legal sources.

Students will develop the following specific competences:

• In-depth legal knowledge in the concerned field and its use in practice at postgraduate level;
• Interdisciplinarity;
• Understanding the legality principle at advanced postgraduate level;
• Using advanced analysis and synthesis, and being able to predict possible outcomes in criminal law;
• Ability to writte a criminal law judgment at postgraduate level.

Intended learning outcomes:
Student will gather advanced knowledge about instruments of criminal law and its place in the EU legal framework and internal legal system. The student will have an in-depth understanding of the meaning of the principle of legality as a fundamental right in criminal law, as well as regards the main elements of a criminal offence at postgraduate level.

The participant will be able to use the gathered theoretical knowledge in an advanced practical case (subsumption of facts under a corresponding criminal offence, assessment of illegality and criminal responsibility and guilt). The participant will be able to provide a written analysis (for example, in the form of a draft criminal law judgement), give an oral presentation based on rational arguments, and debate the issue with others based on critical self-assessment at postgraduate level.

Learning and teaching methods:
Lectures with active participation of student; prior hand-out of materials for preparation of students for each topic; practical work based on concrete case assesments.

Assessment:
Written exam – theory and practical case

Weight (in %)
100 %

Lecturer's references:
- Legalizacija ali kriminalizacija drog (»Legalisation or criminalisation of drugs), article, Revija 2000, št. 141-142/2001
- Ustavno kazensko procesno pravo (»Constitutional Criminal Procedural Law«), co-author, case-book, Pasadena, 2000 and 2003, 2nd ed.
- Kazensko procesno pravo RS (»Criminal procedural law of the Republic of Slovenia«), co-author, book, GV Založba, 2003
- Nekaj pogledov na predlagano novelo ZKP (»Some reflections on the proposed reform of the Criminal Procedural Act«), article, Pravna praksa, No. 14/2003
- Dialektični ugovor zoper temeljna izhodišča popolne prenove ZKP (»Dialectical opposition against the basis for a full reform of the Criminal Procedural Act«), article, Pravnik, No. 4-6/2005
- Sodnik kot varuh demokratične družbe (»The Judge as a Guardian of democratic society«), article, Pravnik, No. 4-5/2006
- Vprašanje skladnosti 17. člena ZKP z Ustavo (»Compatibility of Article 17 of the Criminal Procedural Act with the Slovenian Constitution«), article, Pravna praksa, No. 49-50/2007
- Ustavno sodišče RS ter evropski nalog za prijetje in predajo ali “kdo se boji Virginije Woolf” (»Slovenian Constitutional Court and the European Arrest Warrant or who is afraid of Virginia Woolf«), article, Pravna praksa, No. 1/2008
- Vprašanje ekskluzije: primerjava Evropskega sodišča za človekove pravice ter slovenskega in hrvaškega sistema (»Exclusionary rule – comparison between ECtHR, Slovenian and Croatian system), article, Revus, No. 11/2009
- Ustavna analiza slovenskega pouka Miranda in izločitev dokazov (»Constitutional analysis of the Slovenian »Miranda« warnings system and admissibility of evidence«), article, Pravnik, No. 3-4/2010
- Načelo vzajemnega priznavanja v okviru EU kot slaba utilitaristična rešitev (»Principle of mutual recognition in EU law as an utilitarian solution«), article, Dignitas, No. 47-48/2010
- Problem dogmatične absolutizacije ekskluzije (»The problem of a dogmatic understanding of the exclusionary rule«), article, Pravna praksa, No. 9/2010
- Kompatibilnost slovenske zakonodaje s sodbo nemškega ustavnega sodišča glede hrambe podatkov (»Compatibility of Slovenian legislation with the German Constitutional Court decision on data retention«), Pravna praksa, No. 11/2010
- Evropski nalog za prijetje in predajo – temna stran meseca (»European Arrest Warrant – the dark side of the moon«), article, Pravna praksa, No. 42/2010
- Tolmačenje in prevajanje v kazenskih postopkih: z novo direktivo v novo obdobje razvoja kazenskega prava (»Interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings: the new EU directive«), article, Pravna praksa, No. 43/2010
- Odvzem premoženja nezakonitega izvora – obid kavtel poštenega postopka? (»Confiscation of illegaly obtained property – violation of fair trila?«), article, Pravna praksa, No. 32/2011
- Mednarodno sodelovanje v kazenskih postopkih – podhranjeno področje (»International cooperation in criminal matters – an underdeveloped area«), article, Pravna praksa, No. 36/2011
- Evolutivna teorija razvoja prava (»Evolutionary thoery of law«), GV Založba, book, 2012
- Mednarodna kazenskopravna pomoč in novela ZKP-K (»MLA and the reform of Criminal procedural law«), Podjetje in delo, Dnevi pravnikov 2012
- Language training on the vocabulary of judicial cooperation in criminal matters, Handbook, EJTN, 2012
- The principle of mutual recognition as a utilitarian solution, and the way forward, EuCLR, No. 1/2012
- Prenova predkazenskega postopka zahteva temeljit premislek (»An overhaul of the criminal procedural law demands a sober reflection«), article, Pravna praksa, št. 9/2013
Kladivo čarovnic – o pomenu neodvisnosti sodstva v demokratični republiki (»The Hammer of Witches – role of judicial independency in a democratic republic«), article, Pravna praksa, št. 22/2013
- Skupni standardi EU na področju kazenskega prava v primerjavi z nacionalnimi ustavnopravnimi standardi – Solange Reloaded (»Common standards in the area of EU criminal law in comparison with national constitutional standards – Solange Reloaded«), Pravna praksa, No. 27/2014
- Legitimacy and Trust in Criminal Law, Policy and Justice, co-author, book, Ashgate, 2014
- Mutual recognition in EU criminal law – beyond national sovereignity and international criminal law, Zbornik pravnog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Rijeci, posebno izdanje za prof. Pavišića, 2014
- European Public prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) – too much, too son and without legitimacy?, EuCLR, No. 2/2015
- Cras S, Erbežnik A (2016) The directive on the presumption of innocence and the right to be present at trial. Genesis and description of the new EU-measure. Eucrim 7/2016:25–35
- The Needed Balances in EU Criminal Law, Hart Publishing, 2017, chapter in book
- Komentar Ustave RS, 2019
Komentar KZ-1, Splošni del, GV Založba, 2021
- Kazensko procesno pravo RS, spremenjena in dopolnjena izdaja, GV Založba, 2021 (v pripravi)