General provisions on circumstances collision excluding criminality of act

The problem of correct and theoretically substantiated qualification of criminal acts represented,in the first place, by the classification of crimes is an urgent one in the contemporary Criminal Law science. To my mind, it isimportant for the criminal law not only to distinguish between legal and illegal conduct, but also to show the differences between somemanifestations of criminal behaviour (i.e. crimes) and good behaviour including the grounds (with circumstances), excluding the criminalityof an act and to settle the collisions between them. Along with the collision, i.e. the possibility to apply the norms relating to somecircumstances, excluding the criminality of an act, it is necessary to mention some cases of transformation of a circumstance into anotherone, existence of specification of conditions of a circumstance (e.g. when weapon is used by police) and other cases, in the broadsense, characterized by the term "collision of circumstances, excluding the criminality of an act". Under the collision of circumstances,excluding the criminality of an act, in the narrow sense, it is necessary to understand the simultaneous existence of two legal norms,which can (with different or similar legal consequences for a person) settle a conflict when damage was done by an act the criminality ofwhich can be excluded on the grounds of one or several circumstances. The existence of these collisions is conditioned by the peculiaritiesof legal norms: availability of "general" provisions and estimating legal categories ("public calamity" - substantiated risk); differentiated practical law enforcement; absence of unique legal regulation (use of weapon, law enforcement agencies' activity); and complexityof public relations: transformation of a situation in connection with changes of legal facts, existence of unregulated public relations.It is necessary to formulate a summarized concept to resolve these collisions, which, in my opinion, should contain both general andspecial provisions. The former will include the provisions applicable for all circumstances excluding the criminality of an act. Theseprovisions are general rules (principles) for resolving the above-mentioned collisions: normative, temporal and collisions of rights andduties. Some special principles of resolving the collisions between the circumstances, excluding the criminality of an act enable us todifferentiate these circumstances and, consequently, taking into account all its elements in the aggregate, and find which of them can beapplied.

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