Intervention-related self-defence

Abstract

Abstract The scholarly and research-focused article examines the content of Article 25 §§ 4 and 5 CC, which was transferred to the new Article 231b §§ 1 and 2 CC of Chapter XXIX of the Criminal Code by means of Act of 20 February 2015 amending the Criminal Code Act and Certain Other Acts. The regulation concerns the intervention-related self-defence, wherein a person acting in self-defence and repelling an attack on another’s good protected by law, while simultaneously protecting public security or order, is granted the same legal protection as public officials. The article analyses the genesis and development of this defence, its legal nature, objectives, conditions for application, the scope of criminal law protection for a person acting within the intervention-related self-defence, the exclusion of this protection, and the relationship between Article 231b § 1 and Article 217a CC. The primary scientific objective is to evaluate the legitimacy of its introduction to the Criminal Code and the correctness of defining the premises for its application and its scope. The aim of the considerations is to demonstrate that this measure, despite the negative assessment of its introduction to the Criminal Code in the doctrine, can play a vital role in ensuring security and public order.