Property and Procedural Law

Property and Procedural Law

A youthful client attends a civil association that provides assistance to drug addicted young people. From the position of the civic association staff, try to help the client to make sense of the situation, when he participated in the crime by providing distribution of soft drugs. He was caught in the act.

Questions and tasks:

a)      What legislation is the modification of property law in? Which regulation affects juvenile crime?

b)      Who should the client address with the request for legal assistance in criminal proceedings? May the juvenile be represented by a civil association?

c)      What is criminal cooperation? How could the juvenile’s behaviour be assessed in terms of forms of criminal cooperation?

d)      Since when will the juvenile be treated as an adult perpetrator? How would the client’s situation change, if he were an adult?

a)      It is the Criminal Code, the law on criminal liability of legal persons and the Law on Juvenile Justice, which affects juvenile offenses.

b)      Entirely, a lawyer can only represent the accused and the defendant in criminal proceedings. Since he is a juvenile, the institute of necessary defence has to be applied, so the juvenile must have a lawyer. The client can expect a message on the assignment of a lawyer who he will address with the matter soon. Civic associations can provide assistance to the client, but not a legal service.

c)      Criminal cooperation represents the situation when the crime is committed by more offenders. They are either accomplices, participants (helper, instigator or organizer) or forms of organized crime. In this case, it is necessary to assess the juvenile’s behaviour as a relatively separate act for the defence of the juvenile – separate from the activities of an organized group of drug dealers – for example, claiming that youthful needed money badly, he did not want to participate in the activities of the group at all. Organized crime is more serious. If the matter was considered as a form of criminal cooperation, the youthful would probably be a helper.

d)      The day after his eighteenth birthday. The behaviour of an adult offender would be assessed differently: he would not be affected by the law on juvenile justice, but the Criminal Code, he would not have to have a lawyer, the penalty would be higher and stricter, the court could issue a criminal order of summary procedure, etc.

1.      The client falsely testified before the Police of the Czech Republic and was accused of false testimony. Based on a proposal to punish, the criminal district court issued an order which found the client guilty and punished him by a fine in the amount of 30,000 CZK.

Questions and tasks:

a)     What are the essentials of objection against penal order? (Create an outline.)

b)     Advise the client, what will follow, if the objection is submitted within the time period.

c)      What time period is fixed to the objection? In this period, is it necessary to send or deliver the objection?

d)     Explain the difference between a crime of an adult and a juvenile offender, or even compare with the offense of a legal person.

2.       Based on the decision of the trust court, the client is entitled to the maintenance of the child entrusted to her custody from her ex-husband and father. The father is obligated to pay the mother the amount of 1,000 CZK every month, but the father has not met this obligation for at least nine months.

Questions and tasks:

a)     What should the client do if she wants to get the alimony as soon as possible?

b)     What is active repentance?

c)      Is this the case of a criminal act or an offense, when the father has owed alimony for four months (at the amount of 4,000 CZK)? What are the differences between a criminal act and an offense?

d)     What should the client do if the father avoids paying by either intentionally not working or frequent changing of employment or earning minimum wage?

3.      The client was physically attacked by her ex-boyfriend who she lives in the same household with. The housing unit is owned by the client, but her boyfriend is not going to move out of the apartment. Partial attacks are increasing and are still more brutal. The client is concerned about her health. She currently stays with her daughter and is afraid to return to her apartment.

Questions and tasks:

a)     Process the complaint (synopsis). What crimes could the client’s ex-boyfriend have committed?

b)     What is the concurrence of crimes and how they differ from recidivism (retroactivity)?

c)      How would you solve the problem when the client’s boyfriend illegally occupies her flat?

d)     What legal means do you know (process institutes) to defend against the existing current domestic violence? Till when should the client expect their effects?