A duty in the structure of an unintentional crime

Abstract

In Polish criminal law doctrine, a duty has been traditionally regarded as one of the preconditions for the attribution of negligence (the unwitting unintentional guilt). Primarily, such understanding resulted from the provisions of article 14 2 of the Criminal Code of 1932 and article 7 2 of the Criminal Code of 1969. On the basis of the dogmatic analysis of the structure of an unintentional crime, a duty of anticipation (which is of essence in both cases, i.e. in the event of a lack of care as well as in the event of negligence) is not equivalent to a duty of potential mental experience, but rather to a duty of specific conduct. With regard to unintentional crimes which occur because of a lack of caution, the duty of appropriate conduct amounts to a duty to observe and adhere to a certain rule of conduct, or otherwise a criminal act will be committed. Thus, construction of a duty as a normative category within the structure of an unintentional crime is done and satisfied at the level of illegality or unlawfulness rather than guilt.