Criminal liability for destruction or damage of property according to the Criminal Code of 1903

In this article, the author considers Chapter 30 of the Criminal Code of 1903 which provides liability for damage of property. It is noted that this chapter contains crimes different in their legal nature. According to the Criminal Code of 1903, damage of property was divided into ordinary and socially dangerous. It could be a method of committing the crime or a result of the illegal act. The author analyzes the constitutive and qualifying characteristics of crimes aimed at damaging property, as well as changes and amendments to norms that establish liability for damage of property according to the Criminal Code of 1903 in comparison with former legal acts. For example, punishment for ordinary deliberate demolition and damage of property was different depending on the value of the inflicted damage; a number of crimes had insignificant features. This article contains fundamental opinions of outstanding lawyers of the 19th century on the system of crimes that provided liability for damage of property according to the Criminal Code of 1903. The author makes a distinction between the notions "demolition" and "damage". She comes to a conclusion that demolition and damage of property are independent and different actions in their content, that is why there is no point in uniting these notions into one general notion "damage", which was made by the authors of the Criminal Code of 1903. The decision of the compilers of the Criminal Code of 1903 to combine 30 crimes with different objects into one chapter could be explained by a practical aspect; it helped to make a right choice and to apply norms in case of determination of property damage. In addition, it could be explained by the adoption of the system of crimes of criminal legislation of foreign countries, where one chapter contained all types of damage which had a high value in terms of the nature of the damaged subject, means of damage, character of offence; and by the uselessness to evolve the group of socially dangerous crimes. The authors of the Criminal Code of 1903 insisted that there was no necessity to evolve a chapter about "socially dangerous crimes", because the heading did not have any influence on crime definition. They thought that it was not important to create this chapter, because this part could mislead the judicial practice, the legislator was forced to limit this notion. The authors of the Criminal Code regarded that the effort to unite all socially dangerous crimes could destroy the logical nature and consistency of the Code system.

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