Three main areas comprise Criminal Law: the Penal Code, Criminal Proceedings, and Rules of Evidence. These regulations accompany the suspect, and if charged the accused, until judgement is pronounced.
The main rules of the Penal Code effectively comprise a statement of unacceptable behaviour as dictated by the country's social conventions. Classical Criminal Law provisions (theft, murder) are covered by the Penal Code, however some illegal acts also feature in other laws, such as traffic offences, tax crimes, military crimes and the like.
As a rule, a crime consists of an illegal act (the factual basis) combined with the perpetrator's state of mind when committing the act (mental basis). Thus, for example, if a person commits an illegal act without criminal intent, he cannot be convicted of a crime.
In some cases the factual and mental bases must also be accompanied by some circumstantial or consequential element to enable conviction for a given offence.
The Criminal Proceedings rules govern the manner in which judicial proceedings are conducted against a person charged with committing crimes under the relevant section of the law, and were in fact drawn up for the purpose of applying the Penal Code in a suitable fashion.
The Rules of Evidence apply jointly to Criminal and Civil Law, relating to the submissibility, weight, and sufficiency of evidence.
This area addresses the manner in which the defendant's guilt or innocence may be established, and provides criteria for determining whether or not a particular piece of evidence is valid, whether or not it is conclusive, etc.
The law and precedent also lay down the rights of a suspect under police interrogation, and those of a defendant in court.
Traffic Laws are one of the branches of Criminal Law: Due to the importance of Traffic Laws, their impact on the entire population, and the high incidence of traffic violations, the legislator has decided to set up a separate system of courts devoted exclusively to traffic cases, with its own rules of procedure, in order to create a high standard of professional expertise in this field.
Another branch of Criminal Law is that concerned with planning and development—see further details under the Planning and Development Laws heading.
Our firm specialises in representing suspects starting from the police interrogation stage through to representing defendants in courts at all levels.
