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A Theoretical Conception of Legal Entities Criminal Liability in the Czech Republic

Publication at Faculty of Law |
2014

Abstract

The Legal Entities Criminal Liability Act (Coll. No. 418/2011) has brought a substantive change into the understanding of legal responsibility, particularly that of criminal liability.

Since 1st January 2012 a legal entity can be held liable for a criminal conduct in addition to a natural person who is also held liable. However, the legal entity differs from a person since it cannot be identified simply through our senses.

In order to explain why a norm prescribes that "something" is a legal entity we first need to have a theory. Since the Legal Entities Criminal Liability Act leaves the theoretical burden fully on the civil law doctrine it is necessary to develop a theory of fiction.

The new Czech Civil Code rests on this theory. The new Czech Civil Code is conceptually shifting from organic theory of legal entities to fictional theory of legal entities.

However, the Legal Entities Criminal Liability Act remains conceptually embedded in the organic theory. The author thus highlights some probable difficulties that will arose from different theoretical basis of the two statutes and that will lead to very complicated applicability of the Legal Entities Criminal Liability Act.