Is a crime always the most serious unlawful act?(Part I)

• Main Author: Milić Ivan D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Law 2016-01-01
• Series: Zbornik Radova: Pravni Fakultet u Novom Sadu
• Subjects: crime; misdemeanour; Criminal Core; Misdemeanour Law
• Online Access: http://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/0550-2179/2016/0550-21791603937M.pdf
• ISSN: 0550-2179; 2406-1255

In the Republic of Serbia there are three kinds of unlawful acts: crimes, misdemeanours and economic offences. The Criminal Code prescribes that a crime is an act which is foreseen as such by law, which is illegal and for which guilt has been established. The legislator has, with the Misdemeanour Law, prescribed that a misdemeanour is an illegal act, prescribed by law or another act by the competent body and for which a misdemeanour sanction is prescribed. The Law on Economic Offences prescribes that an economic offence constitutes a harmful breaking of the rules of economic or financial legislation which has caused or might have caused serious consequences and which has, by an act of the competent body been prescribed as an economic offence. According to, above all, the social danger and prescribed sanctions, crimes are the most serious unlawful acts, in comparison to misdemeanours and economic offences. The author's goal in this work is to highlight that the responsibility for a crime is not necessarily the most serious form of penal liability. The responsibility for a misdemeanour, in certain cases, can be more serious for the offender, than the responsibility for a crime. In the work articles of the Criminal Code and the Misdemeanour Law are pointed out, based on which the author draws the conclusion that the responsibility for a committed crime can in certain cases be 'milder' for the offender, in comparison to the responsibility for a misdemeanour.