The Concurrence of Provisions in Polish Criminal Law

Abstract

Concurrence  of  provisions  occurs  when  one  act,  constituting  the  basis  of  criminal  law  reaction, fulfils  the  features  of  at  least  two  types  of  forbidden  acts  described  by  the  criminal  statute.  It  is  therefore  mainly  the  problem  of  proper  legal  qualification  of  a forbidden  act.  However,  greatest  difficulties  are  connected  with  establishing  the  unity  of  the  forbidden  act  which  is  to  be  evaluated.  The  Polish  doctrine  and  court  practice  represent  the  point  of  view  that  during  the  establishing  of  the  criminal  law  evaluation  unit,  both  ontological  and  normative  criteria  should  be  taken  into  account.
The  concurrence  of  provisions  may  be  of  various  character.  Putting  aside  the  so-called  apparent  concurrence,  on  should  distinguish  the  negligible  (not  proper)  concurrence  and  real  (proper)  concurrence.  In  case  of  the  first  one,  there  is,  due  to  the  use  of  special  rules  which  allow  for  the  exclusion  of  multiple  evaluation,  a reduction  of  the  legal  qualification  to  one  provision,  so  that  the  concurrence  is  neglected  in  the  process  of  legal  qualification.  In  the  second  case,  the  rules  which  allow  for  the  exclusion  of  multiple  evaluation  cannot  be  applied  without  the  loss  of  the  possibility  to  reflect  the  full  scope  of  the  illegality  of  an  act  in  the  legal  qualification.
Different  models  of  solving  the  real  concurrence  of  provisions  are  possible.  There  are  three  such  models  in  the  Polish  legal  system:  the  so-called  ideal  concurrence  of  offences  (art.  8  of  the  fiscal  criminal  code),  the  eliminative  concurrence  of  provisions  (art.  9  of  the  code  of  petty  offences)  and  the  cumulative  concurrence  of  provisions  (art.  11  of  the  criminal  code).  The  latter  is  of  greatest  practical  significance.  It  makes  it  possible  to  reflect  most  fully  the  complex  content  of  illegality,  as  in  case  of  this  type  of  concurrence  the  qualification  is  based  on  all  the  concurring  provisions,  and  only  the  imposition  of  punishment  is  based  on  the  most  severe  provision.  This  does  not  forbid  the  court  to  apply  the  penal  measures  on  the  basis  of  the  other  provisions  which  are  included  in  the  legal  qualification.