The article presents the evaluation of criminal law provisions on the property confiscation as another measure of criminal law. An insufficient study in abolishing the regulations of property confiscation led to the situation when the Russian Federation violated several international agreements by which it is obliged to apply the forfeiture of property to persons who have committed crimes of various types. Over the last twenty years, confiscation was again and again subjected changes and amendments, which indicates a lack of elaboration of the provisions on confiscation, and the problems that arose due to this in law enforcement.The authors represent various types of this punishment: the confiscation as “another measure” of criminal law, the confiscation as a form of punishment, and a special confiscation (forfeiture of guns, equipment or other instrumentalities of crime).A positive aspect of confiscation, the authors consider to be the possibility to confiscate not only money, valuables and other property obtained as a result of confiscatory crimes, but also money, valuables and other property in which property and income gained from this property have been partially or completely transformed or converted. This provision was enshrined in the criminal law for the first time and fully complies with the regulations embodied in the Conventions mentioned in the article.In particular, it is concluded that the restoration of confiscation in Criminal Code is a positive step as it allows to deal effectively with crime, especially in its organized forms. However, the existing regulations of confiscation are not without some drawbacks.
Law enforcement and the Judiciary face a very difficult task of countering crime and its consequences. Crime-busting methods are continuously perfected by introducing new legal instruments and by amending the existing ones as well as by implementing system changes in the structures of the law enforcement system. The mechanism of that continuous change attained a particular importance since Poland joined the European Union and has become an acting part in the process of pan-European unifying of the criminal procedure; a process that forced rapid and uniform regulatory changes in all EU Member States. Adopting common European regulations of the property freezing procedure is a part of that unifying process. In that capacity Poland is obligated to implement the relevant EU framework decisions. Consequently, Poland and other EU Member States are required to take up effective measures to deprive criminals and organized crime groups of their financial resources.Poland acted accordingly by changing the existing regulations and by introducing new ones in the area of freezing property, recognising and executing international freezing orders. EU Member States adopted different regulations in that area, conform to their existing national legal systems and the law enforcement praxis, a liberty allowed by the Framework Decision of 2007 providing for setting up of the Asset Recovery Offices. However, to unify law enforcement procedures the European Commission and some Member States introduced the concept of financial investigation that would comprehensively describe all activities aimed at depriving criminals from their financial resources.The authors have taken an attempt at describing the concept of financial investigation, its scope and objectives, and have presented selected aspects of the pan-European unification of the asset freezing procedure expounding on the examples of the Member States.
Deprive offenders of the benefits they obtained from crime is a particularly important instrument in the system of fight against organized crime. Confiscation of crime obtained assets fulfills important role not only as a form of repression, but also as a factor preventing the development of criminal activities. The Polish Penal Code of 1997 introduced forfeiture, which can be ordered either as a punitive measure or precautionary measure. Its scope specified in Articles 44 and 45 of Polish Penal Code is wide. It includes both the seizure of objects and proceeds from crime. The forfeiture of items can be ordered to the items directly obtained from crime, objects that helped or were designed to help in committing the crime, and objects whose manufacture, possession, trade, transmission, transfer or transport is prohibited. In terms of material profits, mandatory forfeit is ordered for both gains obtained directly from crime, as well as for those which the offender obtained indirectly. Given the difficulties of proof associated with showing that the property belonging to the offender has been obtained in connection with a criminal offence, the Polish legislator decided to introduce legal presumptions relating to the sourcing of property belonging to the offender. The burden of proving that the property belonging to the offender has been obtained by them legally lies with the person concerned. Similar approach is used if the circumstances indicate high probability of transfer by the perpetrator of their assets onto another person, legal entity, or agency without corporate status. In both cases the authorities are exempt from the obligation to prove that the property was obtained illegally, and the burden of proof lies with the perpetrator or any other entity concerned. It seems that such arrangements allow for effective carrying out of the tasks by the state authorities to deprive offenders of crime related property.
Terrorist acts have been a worrisome phenomenon for all nations. Paradoxically, although states have been conscious about the danger of this phenomenon, there is no definition of terrorist acts so far. States have been skeptical and they have not agreed that the judgment of these criminal offences be performed by international jurisdictions, thus opting for the domestic jurisdiction. Nevertheless, states have lacked the willingness to establish joint criminal policies and find efficacious means to combat these terrorist acts. One of these efficacious means has been the seizure and confiscation of licit and illicit assets possessed by terrorist groups. This is the focus of this short study, which will be inclusive by viewing this topic under the general framework of international acts, our domestic legislation, as well as the American one. This paper aims at presenting the legislative measures taken by the Albanian state to meet international requirements. It endeavors to provide arguments why all licit and illicit assets associated with terrorist acts are seized and confiscated. Special attention is paid to the way these assets are administered. Moreover, this study tries to analyze the achievements and problems in Albania, as well as provide conclusions and recommendations.
P. 16976, one of the two papyri which Wilhelm Schubart published in 1945 in the F estschrift for Leopold Wenger, is to be dated to ad 457–500. It probably belonged to a small codex (which seems to have had no more than 48 pages) with many short legal texts on different subjects. It may have been an ‘Enchirdium on Actual Legal Questions Taken from Imperial Constitutions’ for jurists. Beside the main text, there may have been a separate booklet providing additional juridical comments in the form of paragraphai. While the two parts may have been authored by the same person, a long comment below the main text on the recto is in a different hand. It may thereofre have been copied by a later user from the booklet. This is certainly not a marginal scholion, as believed from the time of Schubart. The subjects included in the preserved piece are two cases from civil law (an actio ex stipulatu against a woman for paying back a credit and getting a title of possession for a provincial estate by the older longi temporis praescriptio), a civil process (prescription of a lawsuit) and a case from fiscal law (confiscation). The last text includes an instruction for the readers.
The article takes up the issue of the development of various state institutions which were implemented in order to protect historical castles and chateaux in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic after the year 1918, due to the confiscation of property. It describes the transformation of regulations governing the right of ownership, associated with historical and political events, which had a significant influence on the status of residential buildings - nationalization processes after both World Wars, the impact of the communist doctrine and the privatization and restitution after 1989. The current state of preservation and functioning of the most representative residences, as places open and available to the public, has to do with administration policy - pursued in the present form after divesting original owners their objects. It has an impact on the modern social perception of the current functions which these residences are supposed to perform as a consequence of transfers of ownership after 1989. The statement is intended to illustrate the process of the development of a strategy for the protection and administration of residences, launched after 1918, by presenting phenomena in both contexts - legal and political, as well as by showing the historical and social aspects of the process.
This study deals with the cession of confiscated East-Bohemian manors Žireč and Žacléř to the Jesuit Novitiate in Vienna and with the establishment of the Jesuit Residence in Žireč. The entire process lasted from 1635, when the Jesuits were promised a new foundation by Emperor Ferdinand II, to 1652, which was the year of the actual registration. The aim is to capture the entire course of this process and especially to explain why it lasted so long, using primarily sources from the Austrian State Archives.
The article analyses the institiution of extended confiscation in the Italian Republic where such solution has been functioning for over twenty years, depriving criminal organisatuions of assets worth hundreds of milions euro. The aricle elaborates on the most important characteristics of the italian institiution and adresses the controversies they rise together with related doctrine and judgments of the supreme court. The characteristics have been confronted with the solutions introduced into the Polish legal system by the law od 23 march 2017. The new regulations allow in certain situations to confiscate an entire enterprise belonging to a person that didn’t comit the crime, introduce the possibility of confiscating assets even if the perpetrator is not recognized and a presumption that any asset bought in 5 years before comittment of a crime is a profit from the crime.
W artykule zreferowano temat represji, które dotknęły szlachtę województwa grodzieńskiego za udział w powstaniu 1863–1864 r. Obejmowały one głównie deportacje oraz palenie majątków szlacheckich. Szczuki w powiecie grodzieńskim zostały spalone 24– 25.07.1863 r. (daty podane są wg starego stylu), deportowano 15 rodzin; Jaworówka w powiecie białostockim – spalone 18.08.1863, deportowano 14 rodzin; Penyashki, powiat Pruzhanski – 08.09.1863, 40 osób; Lukowica, powiat bielski – 20.09.1863, 42 rodziny; Prushanka-Baranka, powiat bielski – 24.05.1864, 11 rodzin. W ten sposób wykonano „plan Murawjowa”. Palenie majątków i deportacja mieszkańców w bliskiej perspektywie miała za zadanie zastraszenie szlachty i odsunięcie jej od ruchu powstańczego, by w ten sposób ugasić powstanie. W dalszej perspektywie konfiskata gruntów i nieruchomości miała podważyć stabilność gospodarczą szlachty, żeby nie mogla ona finansować kolejnych buntów. Majątki szlacheckie planowano zasiedlić rosyjskimi ziemianami w celu wzmocnienia „elementu rosyjskiego” w „Kraju Zachodnim”.
EN
The author talks about the deportation of the population and the burning of the gentry outskirts of Grodno province for participating in the uprising of 1863–1864. (Old Style date): Szczuky Grodno district (burned 24–25.07.1863 g, 15 families); Yavorovka Belastokski district (18.08.1863, 14 families); Penyashki Pruzhany district (08.09.1863, 40 persons.); Bulb county Belsky (20.09.1863, at 42 families); Prushanka- Baranka Belsky district (24.05.1864, at 11 families). Thus performed “Muravyova system”. Burning nobiliary outskirts of deportation and residents were to decide the next and perspective tasks. Initially intimidated gentry and detach it from the rebel movement and thereby extinguish the uprising. And the future of the gentry save land, property – undermining economic position that it does not fund future muggle revolt. In the gentry land it was planned to have a Russian landowners in order to strengthen the “Russian element” in the “Western Region”.
Zu Beginn der zwanziger Jahre herrschte auf dem Territorium des Sowjetstaates eine schreckliche Hungersnot, die besonders das Wolgagebiet und den Kaukasus betraf. Die bolschewistischen Machthaber in Moskau machten sich diese Tragödie zunutze und erließen am 23. Februar 1922 ein Dekret über die Beschlagnahme der Kirchenschätze, die für den Spezialfonds des Zentralen Hungerhilfskomitees bestimmt werden sollten. Die wirklichen Ziele dieser Konfi szierung waren jedoch völlig andere, und das Dekret selbst lieferte den Machthabern lediglich einen bequemen Vorwand zum Angriff gegen die Kirche. Im Gefolge der Moskauer Regierung fassten die zentralen Exekutivorgane in der Sowjetukraine am 8. März 1922 dann ebenfalls einen solchen Beschluss. Bald darauf entstanden auf dem Territorium des gesamten Staates Kommissionen für die Beschlagnahme der Kirchenschätze, die unter der strikten Aufsicht und Kontrole der Tscheka arbeiten sollten. Beschlagnahmt wurden ausnahmslos alle sich in den Kirchen verschiedener Konfessionen befi ndende Wertgegenstände. Dem unmittelbaren Beginn der Konfiszierung der Kirchenschätze ging eine groß angelegte Agitationskampagne voraus. Im Gouvernement Podolien begann diese Aktion praktisch schon in der zweiten Aprilhälfte 1922 und dauerte bis Ende Juni. Bis zu diesem Zeitpunkt wurden in Podolien aus insgesamt 1048 orthodoxen Kirchen, 21 Klöstern, 81 anderen Kirchen und 188 Synagogen über 2,1 Tonne Silber, über ein halbes Kilo Gold und etwa 7000 Silberrubel sowie 60 Goldrubel konfisziert. Von diese Kampagne blieb auch die römisch-katholische Kirche in Podolien nicht verschont, die verglichen mit den anderen Konfessionen den stärksten Widerstand leistete. Die Geistlichen und Gläubigen der Diözese Kamieniec setzten sich ganz entschieden für ihre Kirchen ein, was in der Konsequenz dazu führte, dass einige Priester und Katholiken, die sich der Beschlagnahme widersetzten, verhaftet wurden und ins Gefängnis kamen. Das größte Aufsehen erregte in ganz Podolien und außerhalb seine Grenzen der Einsatz der römisch-katholischen Geistlichen und Gläubigen in Kamieniec Podolski, die offenen Widerstand gegen die Konfi szierungen leisteten. Vier Priester aus Kamieniec und mehrere Gemeindemitglieder wurden damals sogar zum Tode verurteilt, weil sie Kirchenschätze versteckt hatten, aber dieses Urteil wurde dank einer Intervention der polnischen Regierung dann in fünfjährige Gefängnisstrafen umgewandelt. Erst nach einem Jahr gelang es ihnen, ihre Freiheit wiederzuerlangen. Allerdings erlebte P. Antoni Niedzielski, der Pfarrer der Kathedrale von Kamieniec, diesen Tag nicht mehr, da er bereits im November 1922 im Gefängnis von Winnica verstorben war.
The paper deals with the changes of the notion and protection of the ownership in the Czech lands from the 19th century till the present day, especially with the issue of inviolability,inseparability and object of ownership. From the historical legal perspective two questions will be analyzed: 1) How the ownership changed during the last 200 years and towards what it is heading? 2) Is it possible and appropriate to speak about “inviolability” of ownership?We can summarize that the development oscillated between the “user” and the “power” concept of ownership (user concept was determining till the middle of the 19th century and from the 50s to the 90s of the 20th century), and that „inviolability“ can only relate to property tied to personal sphere of the owner.
CS
Příspěvek je věnován proměnám pojmu a ochrany vlastnictví v českých zemích od 19. století do současnosti, zejména problematice nedílnosti, nedotknutelnosti a předmětu vlastnického práva. Z historicko- právní perspektivy budou promýšleny dvě provázané otázky: 1) Jak se za posledních dvě stě let vlastnická úprava vyvíjela a kam směřuje? 2) Je možné a vhodné mluvit o „nedotknutelnosti“ vlastnictví? Můžeme shrnout, že vývoj osciloval mezi „uživatelskou“ a „mocenskou“ koncepcí vlastnictví (uživatelský přístup byl určující do poloviny 19. století a od 50. do 90. let 20. století) a že „nedotknutelnost“ můžeme vztáhnout pouze k majetku vázanému na osobní sféru vlastníka.
In 1990/1991, Czechoslovakia adopted restitution laws to remedy certain (including property) wrongs from the communist rule between 1948 and 1989. It was based on the concept, that property transactions from the communist era are valid, but if they are based on a wrong, then the owners (typically the state) are obliged to hand over the property to the restitutor as the former owner. Therefore, restitution is not based on the idea of the continuing ownership of the restitutor, but on the idea of restoring his ownership. In addition to laws on restitution, however, civil law protection of property was and still is, connected with, among other things, the right of the owner to demand the delivery of his property (rei vindicatio) to the person who has it with him without legal reason. Despite the validity of the lex specialis derogat generali conflict rule, controversial questions arose in the literature and in practice regarding the specific ratios of the general protection of property to restitution. The presented study analyzes them. The author pays special attention to the period 1945–1948, when the post-war so-called third Czechoslovak Republic) represented a hybrid political entity in which the foundations of the future communist regime were laid from its establishment. This was manifested in activities carried by “national and class radicalism” (Homolová). The result was more than one violation or abuse of the legal regulations in force at the time. Such measures had their property consequences, which are still being questioned, even though they are not covered by the special restitution legislation. The author deals with issues of conditions and obstacles on the way to correction.
CS
Československo přijalo především v letech 1990/1991 restituční zákony k nápravě některých (rovněž majetkových) křivd z dob komunistické vlády v letech 1948 až 1989. Vyšlo se z pojetí, že majetkové transakce z doby komunismu platí, ale opírají-li se o křivdu, pak určitým vlastníkům (typicky státu) vzniká povinnost majetek vydat restituentovi jako dřívějšímu vlastníkovi. Restituce tedy nestojí na myšlence trvajícího vlastnictví restituenta, ale na myšlence obnovy jeho vlastnictví. Vedle zákonů o restitucích ovšem platila a platí občanskoprávní ochrana vlastnictví spojená mj. s právem vlastníka domáhat se vydání jeho věci (rei vindicatio) na tom, kdo ji má u sebe bez právního důvodu. Přes platnost kolizního pravidla lex specialis derogat generali vznikaly v literatuře i v praxi ohledně konkrétních poměrů obecné ochrany vlastnictví k restitucím sporné otázky. Předložená studie je analyzuje. Autor věnuje zvláštní pozornost období 1945–1948, kdy poválečná tzv. třetí Československá republika představovala hybridní politický útvar, v němž byly už od jeho ustavení položeny základy budoucího komunistického režimu. To se projevilo aktivitami nesenými „nacionálním a třídním radikalismem“ (Homolová). Následkem bylo nejednou porušení nebo zneužití právních předpisů platných v té době. Taková opatření měla své majetkové důsledky, dodnes zpochybňované, ač se jich zvláštní restituční legislativa netýká. Autor se zabývá otázkami podmínek a překážek na cestě k nápravě.
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