NAME OF CRIMINAL LAW

The criminal law over the course of the ancestors received names in different ways,
It is currently known as criminal law. Some names are:
Criminal Law: to denote that the main interest is the author of the crime
Repressive Or Sanctioning Right: to highlight the punitive nature of this right.
Right of Prevention: to denote that this right has prohibited legal norms of conduct.
Right to Protect Society: to designate that the crime constitutes an affront to society and that this right protects it.
Right to Fight Crime: to name that it is based on this right that crime is punished.
Protective Law of Criminals: Dorado Montero calls it this to mean that this right is a fence against the private or
public revenge of society.
Right of Social Defense: name given for using other measures along with punishment to defend society, this name
has its origins in the positivist school. In Central and South America it was called the law of the social code, under
the influence of the positive school. Sociology or criminal anthropology, so called by positivists because they give
greater importance to society as a medium, in relation to crime.
Criminal Law: used—for the first time—in 1756 by Regnerus Engelhard to highlight its punitive nature. Some say
that the name of criminal law is very narrow, it does not cover security measures.

CRIMINAL LAW
Criminal law is the branch of Public Law that regulates the punitive power of the State, associating with facts,
strictly determined by law, as a budget, a penalty , security measure or correction as a consequence. 1
When talking about criminal law, the term is used with different meanings, depending on what you want to refer
to; In this way, one can speak preliminarily of substantive criminal law and, on the other hand, of adjective
criminal law or criminal procedural law .
The first of them is constituted by what is generally known as the criminal code or substantive criminal laws ,
which are the rules promulgated by the State, which establish crimes and penalties, while criminal procedural law
is the set of rules intended to establish the mode of application thereof.
SOURCES
The source of Law is that from which it emanates, where and how the legal norm is produced. Therefore, the only
source of criminal law in systems in which the principle of legality prevails is the Law , from which the power
emanates for the construction of other norms and their respective application, therefore, only this can be the
creator and direct source of criminal law.
CUSTOM : custom is not a source of criminal law - neither in its positive aspect nor as customary - in so-called
continental penal systems, that is, in those in which the principle of legality prevails, although it may be the case in
other branches of law.
Something else happens in the criminal systems of Anglo-Saxon Law - or in the International Criminal Court -.
For these criminal systems, the "judicial precedent" is a source of law, although more and more, for reasons of
legal certainty, states are adopting the "master system" or codification model. England, which needed a Law in
constant evolution because it was a maritime country and could not wait for the creation of laws to adapt them to
its trade, adopted custom as a source of Law; In criminal law, however, custom cannot operate as a creator of
crimes and penalties.
Despite the above, some authors admit social adaptation as a cause of exclusion from typicality. According to this
argument, it is stated that in certain cases, behavior that seems typical, however, due to social activity, is
considered "atypical" or permitted. However, other authors are frankly against it, understanding that admitting
social adequacy is accepting desuetudo as a source of law (DE LA CUESTA AGUADO). The typical case that is
intended to be allowed based on social adequacy is that of small gifts to officials, behaviors that fall squarely into
crimes of corruption, very serious behaviors even in their slightest manifestations that affect the very foundations
of the social system. and they make it unfair.
JURISPRUDENCE : Classic source in Anglo-Saxon law ( Common law ). Jurisprudence is the reiteration of
decisions on the same matter in a similar way, it is not a single decision, it has to do with a plural activity of
decisions that consolidate a tendency for the solution of a case. Not only in the United States or England is
jurisprudence used for decision-making, but all lawyers tend to look for jurisprudential precedents because they
are what indicate how the courts interpret a certain rule. Now, in continental criminal systems, jurisprudence is not
a source of law, nor is analogy.
DOCTRINE : It is not a source of criminal law although it fulfills important functions in the creation and
interpretation of criminal law.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF LAW : Nor can they be considered a source of criminal law, although they fulfill
other functions by guiding and limiting legislative activity; the interpretation or application of criminal law.
RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER BRANCHES OF LAW
Although the Law is a whole, in which it is impossible to completely separate some norms from others, for
didactic, pedagogical, and also practical reasons when applying it, it is divided into different branches. Criminal
Law has links with each of them:
 Constitutional law : The Constitution of each State is what sets the bases and limits to which criminal law
must be subject (limitations to ius puniendi ), with principles such as the presumption of innocence, due
process, among others.
 Civil law : Many of the notions used in criminal law come from or are defined in civil law. For there to be
adultery , for example, there must be marriage , and this is a civil concept; or for there to be theft , there
must be property .
 Commercial law : The same thing happens as in the previous case. We can exemplify the crime of check
fraud , for which it is necessary to take the concept of a check from commercial law.
 Administrative Law : On the one hand, criminal law protects administrative activity by sanctioning
conduct that undermines its proper functioning; On the other hand, generally, the fact that the perpetrator
of the crime has administrative authority aggravates the penalty. Then, the exercise of criminal prosecution,
being carried out by administrative bodies, also brings these two branches of law closer together. Finally,
when administrative bodies impose sanctions , it has been understood that the principles and guarantees of
criminal law are also applicable in the exercise of this power, although with nuances.
HISTORICAL EVOLUTION
Main article: Historical evolution of criminal law
Each society , historically, has created—and creates—its own criminal norms, with characteristic features and
elements depending on the legal good that is sought to be protected in each case.
Taboo and private revenge : in primitive times there was no structured criminal law, but there was a whole series
of prohibitions based on magical and religious concepts, the violation of which had consequences not only for the
offender but also for all members of his family, clan or tribe.
When someone was held responsible for violating one of these prohibitions ( taboo ), the offender was at the
mercy of the victim and his relatives, who punished him by causing him and his family greater harm. There was no
relationship between the offense and the magnitude of the punishment.
The Law of Retaliation : the first limitations on revenge as a method of punishment arise with the Code of
Hammurabi , The Law of the XII Tables and the Mosaic Law , which attempt to establish a first proportionality
between the damage caused and the punishment. It is the famous "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."
In cases where there was no physical damage, a form of physical compensation was sought, such that, for
example, the perpetrator of a robbery would have his hand cut off.
The appearance of the so-called Composition corresponds to this same period, consisting of the replacement of the
penalty by the payment of a monetary sum, through which the victim renounced revenge.
Currently, remission of sentence in exchange for community service is being introduced.
ROMAN LAW
The extensive period covered by what we usually call Roman Law can basically be divided into eras, according to
the type of government that each of them had. From the Law of the XII Tables, public crimes ("crimes") are
distinguished from private crimes ("crimes", in the strict sense). The former were persecuted by representatives of
the State in its interest, while the latter were persecuted by individuals in their own interest. It is noteworthy that
the law of the XII tables did not establish distinctions of social classes before the law.
Over time, private crimes become prosecuted by the State and subject to public punishment.
One of the worst penalties was the capitis deminutio maxima .
During the time of the Republic , only the mildest crimes remained as private crimes. Roman criminal law begins
to be based on the interest of the State, thus reaffirming its public character.
This characteristic is clearly seen in the time of the Empire . The courts acted by delegation from the emperor; The
extraordinary procedure became ordinary jurisdiction because the scope of crimes against the majesty of the
empire increasingly expanded. With the development of the imperial period there will no longer be a question of
publicly protecting particular interests, but rather they will all be public interests. The pain at this stage intensifies
his love.
MIDDLE AGES
Blatt 40 v Constitutio Criminalis Bambergensis , 1507.
The Middle Ages : During the Middle Ages the Roman Empire disappeared, and with it the legal unity of Europe .
The invasions of the barbarians brought different legal-penal customs, many of them opposed to the principles of
the law of the Roman Empire.
As the feudal lord strengthens his power, the law becomes more uniform, as a result of the union of ancient Roman
law and barbarian customs.
This is how canon law gains strength, coming from the Catholic religion that was imposed in Europe because it
was the religion that had spread along with the Roman Empire.
Canon law, which began as a simple disciplinary order, grows and its jurisdiction extends by reason of the people
and by reason of the matter. becoming a complete and complex system of positive law .
Crime and sin (they were homologous) represented slavery and punishment, liberation; The protective criterion of
this right that will lead to the inquisitorial procedure is the result of that conception.
It can be noted that canon law institutionalized the right of asylum , opposed ordeals and affirmed the subjective
element of the crime.
It is highly debated whether crime was distinguished from sin, but most authors agree that although a theoretical
distinction may have existed, in practice it faded. It is enough to mention some of the acts that were considered
crimes: blasphemy , witchcraft, eating meat during Lent, supplying, possessing and reading prohibited books, non-
observance of religious holidays, etc.
THE GAMES
The Siete Partidas of Alfonso the Wise constitute a code that appeared between the years 1256 - 1265 , which later
exerted an enormous influence on general legislation. The criminal provisions of Las Partidas are found in Part
VII, complemented by numerous procedural provisions related to criminal matters contained in Part III.
The public nature of the repressive activity is definitively established, and it is established that the purpose of the
penalty is atonement, that is, retribution for the evil caused, as a means of intimidation, so that the act is not
repeated.
The act committed by the unimpeachable person is distinguished in accordance with the influence of Roman law
(for example, the mad, the furious, the forgetful and the minor of ten and a half years of age, without prejudice to
the responsibilities incurred by relatives due to their lack of care). ). Having thus distinguished the subjective
condition for imputation, establishing that such subjects cannot be accused, the subjective meaning of this criminal
law is firmly established, which, in this area, draws clear differences between the simple commission of an act and
its guilty commission.
It also contains, especially in homicide, the difference between the intentional , the culpable and the justified act.
Certain forms of instigation , attempt and complicity are foreseen.
THE CAROLINA
In 1532 Charles V sanctioned the Constitutio Criminalis Carolina or Ordinance of Criminal Justice, which,
although it was not mandatory for the feudal lords in their territories, still supported the common German criminal
law.
It classified crimes such as blasphemy, witchcraft, sodomy, seduction, incest, etc. and the penalties varied between
fire, the sword, dismemberment, hanging, death by asphyxiation, burial of the living body, hot iron and
flagellation.
The Carolina is a penal code, criminal procedure and a court organization law. In reality it does not have a true
method, but is a long and complex enumeration of regulations, admitting the analogy and the death penalty whose
aggravation in various forms it admits, clearly showing that the main object of the punishment is intimidation .
Its importance lies in the reaffirmation of the state nature of punitive activity. On the other hand, the compositional
and private system, and the objectivity of Germanic law, definitively disappear with the admission of the attempt.
LIBERAL CRIMINAL LAW
Constitutio Criminalis Theresiana , 1768.
César Bonesana ( Cesare Beccaria ) was the author of On Crimes and Penalties ( 1764 ), which is considered the
most important work of Enlightenment in the field of criminal law.
Beccaria's intention was not to build a system of criminal law, but to draw guidelines for a criminal policy .
According to Jiménez de Asúa , "Beccaria was the first who dared to write in a simple way, in Italian, in the form
of a pamphlet , and conceived in brief syllogisms and not in those folios in which the practitioners tried to
summarize the multiplicity of the laws of the time. Above all, Beccaría is the first who dares to engage in criminal
politics, that is, a critique of the law.
However, one cannot fail to mention Montesquieu , Marat and Voltaire in the same vein.
Beccaria starts from the prevailing philosophical assumptions of the time (the Social Contract , by Rousseau ) as
the origin of the constitution of society and the transfer of minimum freedoms into the hands of the State and its
punitive power for the conservation of the remaining freedoms.
The criticism arising from Beccaria's book leads to the formulation of a series of penal reforms that are the basis of
what we know as liberal Criminal Law, summarized in terms of general humanization of penalties, abolition of
torture , equality before the Law , Principle of Legality , proportionality between crime and penalty, etc.
One of the most important disseminators of Beccaria's work was Voltaire .
CLASSICAL OR LIBERAL SCHOOL
The first representative of this "school" is Francisco Carmignani . His work "Elements of Criminal Law" proposes
a system of criminal law derived from reason, being one of the first to outline a scientific system of criminal law in
a non-German language.
Following Carmignani, but surpassing him, Francesco Carrara , known as "the Master of Pisa", appears on the
stage of the liberal school. In his Programma del Corso di Diritto Criminale ( 1859 ) the construction of the
system of criminal law reaches peaks of technical refinement, so much so that when Carrara dies the process of
demolition of liberal criminal law begins to be visualized.
CRIME
From the point of view of Criminal Law, currently the definition of crime has a descriptive and formal character.
Furthermore, it corresponds to a dogmatic conception, whose essential characteristics are only obtained from the
law .
In accordance with the above, in most of the legal systems inherited from the European continental system, it is
customary to define it as a typical, unlawful and guilty action, possibly punishable , or more precisely in the words
of Luis Jiménez de Asua "any action or omission or "commission by omission, typically unlawful and
correspondingly attributable to the guilty party, as long as no cause for exclusion of the penalty arises or the
person subject to prosecution is susceptible to the application of a security measure."
However, although there is a certain agreement regarding its definition, not everyone attributes the same content to
it. Thus, the relationships between its various elements and the components of each of them are especially debated
(discussions that take place within the so-called general theory of crime ).
FAULT OR CONTRAVENTION
A misdemeanor , in criminal law, is illegal conduct that endangers some protectable legal asset, but which is
considered less serious and, therefore, is not classified as a crime . The system of misdemeanors or contraventions
has given rise to a subbranch of Criminal Law called Misdemeanor Law , or Misdemeanor Law .
Misdemeanors meet all the same requirements as a crime (typicality, illegality and guilt). The only difference is
that the law itself decides to characterize it as a misdemeanor, instead of as a crime, based on its lesser severity.
This characteristic allows the misdemeanor system to be less strict in the use of certain criminal figures such as
"open types", formal crimes (without intent or guilt), the validity of the verification records, etc.
Given that, by definition, the seriousness of a misdemeanor is less than that of a crime, the penalties imposed for
them are usually less serious than those for crimes, and attempts are made to avoid custodial sentences in favor of
other penalties. , such as pecuniary penalties or deprivation of rights.
One of the characteristic cases of the foul system are traffic violations.
PENALTIES
Punishment is the means available to the State to react to crime , expressed as the "restriction of the rights of the
person responsible." It is "the loss or restriction of personal rights, contemplated by law and imposed by the
jurisdictional body , through a process, to the individual responsible for the commission of a crime ."
The legal order also provides for so-called "security measures" intended to address situations in which the use of
penalties is not sufficient or appropriate.
In this way, we can maintain that the State has two types of instruments; penalties and security measures .
HISTORY OF VENEZUELAN CRIMINAL LAW
In this chapter we divide the history of Venezuelan criminal law according to the periods studied by Mendoza
Troconis:
1. Indigenous Criminal Law
2. Indian Criminal Law
3. National Criminal Law
1. INDIGENOUS CRIMINAL LAW
In the primitive social state of the Venezuelan indigenous tribes, the idea of collective justice was unknown;
justice was individual, exercised by the offended party themselves or by their relatives.
The general crimes of the Venezuelan tribes were cannibalism, homicide, drunkenness and sexual vices.
a) Anthropophagy
The Caribs were cannibals, they ate meat out of habit, revenge or in collaboration with some victory. The wars
with the other tribes were generally about obtaining food and they kept the prisoners in order to fatten them and
keep the human flesh fresh for longer, which, according to Cuervo Márquez, "was one of their greatest delights."
(Archaeological and Ethnological Studies, Chap. II, p. 17).
b) Homicide
The Caribs were cruel and bloodthirsty. Many tribes committed religious homicides, sacrificing children to their
gods, and this continued to happen even after the Spanish conquest was advanced. Generally, they designated high
rocks in the mountains to sacrifice children and young men between the rising sun, whose innocent blood was to
appease the rigors of the sun god, or achieve the health of a Chief, threatened by serious illness, and death was
caused by means of the beheading with flint knives.
In the ceremony for the construction of temples there were also homicides, in which the wood that served as
columns was buried by crushing the living bodies of chosen maidens.
There were various types of homicides:
By funeral rite : when a Chief died, the woman in whom he had had the most children was buried with him.
Due to prejudices : in the war that the Caribbeans usually waged, when according to their account they were
supposed to launch the assault, those who remained in the town put two young men in penance and subjected them
to the torment of the whip, which they suffered without complaints until they died, because of Their courage and
tolerance depended on the warriors fighting bravely and achieving victory.
For the acquisition of glory : some tribes displayed the skulls of their enemies on the palisades that surrounded
their rooms, and others kept the skins filled with ashes hanging on the walls of their temples.
c) Drunkenness
The indigenous people were very fond of drinking, their festivals were reduced to dances for men and women, and
they were usually all funerals, and in them they committed the greatest excesses, originating from drunkenness,
such as deaths, injuries, illicit sexual acts, pedophilia, etc.
d) Sexual vices and other crimes
Polygamy was common in these tribes and, especially, the chiefs and principals had as many women as they could
support, although there was always a favorite, and since they valued the woman as their own, they punished the
infidelity of the indigenous woman with death, including the incident among the attacks on property.
Aside from these facts, there was the rudimentary concept of other crimes among the indigenous tribes. This was
the punishment with death for the piache who did not cure a leader of the tribe, because he was obliged to give
health to the sick person.
Other indigenous tribes practiced robbery in gangs of criminals to offer part of the loot to their gods; But in most
cases thieves were punished with death.
Summarizing the preceding exposition, we find, therefore, that the indigenous criminal law consisted of the
customs of each tribe that considered certain acts as crimes, mainly betrayal, disobedience to the commands of the
chiefs, attacks on property and honesty and religious violations that in many tribes were based on intimidation; and
that kidnappers, incestists, adulterers and pedophiles were punished with death.
2. INDIAN CRIMINAL LAW
It is Colonial Criminal Law, it is peculiarly determined by the application of exotic legal institutions, from an
advanced country like Spain, in places of incivility.
The rulers of Spain were forced to create another Law, the Indian Law, a collection of institutions that suited the
inhabitants of the extensive conquered territory, different in psychology and environment from Spanish soil, either
to protect the indigenous people, or to accommodate the life of the Spanish.
These institutions are known as the Laws of the Indies, and their purpose was to adapt these provinces, which
demanded a different legal order.
Jerónimo Montés explains:
The conquest of America and the governance of its extensive territories gave rise to a multitude of Provisions,
Instructions, Cedulas, Ordinances, Etc. Dictated at different times by the kings. Antonio Maldonado I Vasco de
Puga formed the first ordered compilation, which includes all the provisions given from 1525 to 1563, and which
was followed by others in successive years. (Criminal Law I, 112, page 9).
Trials
Most trials ended in short days and with little file, just three weeks of procedures and twenty pages. The judges'
orders and sentences lacked doctrinal citations and legal foundations; Instead, they appeared as regulations of the
life and customs of the natives and residents, with provisions of a moral and social order.
In trials for serious crimes, such as homicides, cattle rustling; The colonial judges stopped applying the major
penalties indicated in the Partidas and in the Compilation, which were the most followed laws, to indicate other
minor ones that achieved purposes other than the punishment, or they only reprimanded the offender, and, also,
they cut the case short. providence, accepting the proposals made by the accuser to harmonize his future relations
with the accused and avoid scandals.
In many cases, the ordinary prison sentence was left unfulfilled for practical reasons, such as releasing prisoners
from prison, attending to work of collective interest or taking advantage of an opportunity to transfer detainees.
Studies of Indian criminal law point out, first of all. The application of the law in a diverse manner according to
the differentiated classes in colonial society, with the Spaniard, the Mantuan, the warrior and the priest appearing
as privileged people, and the Indian, the black and the mulatto as dominated. In the trials, the distinguished
subject, according to what he was titled in the judicial proceedings, and the miserable, low-status, poor Indian or
black slave, received different treatment.
However, the Indians had a Protector, who intervened in their causes and laws that favored them, and the poor
enjoyed the representation of the Poor Prosecutor; The process took place before the prosecutor, demanding
compliance with the law, and the Protector, Attorney or Defender insistent on the representation of the natives.
Institutions
The Intendancy of the Treasury and the Royal Army was created in Venezuela and the subsequent Court that
heard crimes of illicit trade, mainly those of smuggling, with the Intendant or his subdelegates being the judge.
Residency Trial : followed the captain generals, governors and other officials and was opened as soon as they
finished their positions. A special Court was formed to hear their abuses and punish them.
The most common processes in the Colony were for crimes against people: homicide, wounds, insults; or against
property: theft, theft and damage, which were the most frequent.
For punishable sexual acts: concubinage, adultery, seductions, rapes, kidnappings and sodomy. Political
conspiracies were in fourth place.
The death sentence was almost never carried out.
3. NATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW
The third period begins with the work of repealing Spanish laws, inapplicable to the recent legal order created with
the Declaration of Independence and unacceptable to the new Venezuelan race formed during the colonial era.
Evolution begins with the issuance of laws and decrees and with the promulgation of the fundamental statute, and
ends with codification.
1. Hierarchy in the application of laws
On May 13, 1825, Congress ordered that while its own legal order was not provided, the hierarchy that should be
applied would be the following:
 a) Those decreed and that the Legislative Branch will decree from now on.
 b) The pragmatics, charters, orders, decrees and ordinances of the Spanish government until March 18,
1808, which were in observance under the same Spanish government in the territory formed by the
Republic.
 c) The Compilation Laws of the Indies.
 d) Those of the new Compilation of Castile.
 e) Those of the Seven Games.
2. Constitution of 1830
When independence was declared, the legislators first thought about drafting the statute that would give life to the
new State. The first Venezuelan Constitution was promulgated in Valencia on September 22, 1830, containing
many provisions that are of interest to Criminal Law.
Civil liberty was decreed in it, equality was established among all Venezuelans, which eliminated the difference in
criminal treatment and privileges. The principles concerning individual security were organized, and by virtue of
them, in criminal enterprises no one could be imprisoned or arrested without prior summary information of having
committed an act that deserved corporal punishment and well-founded evidence that the person committed had
committed it. would arrest
Prisoners were prohibited from holding detainees incommunicado, and sentences were issued for the perpetrators
of arbitrary deprivation of liberty. Torment, confiscation of property and all cruel punishment were abolished.
Among many other new aspects for the time.
3. Special Laws
The special legislation also dealt with a large number of matters within the scope of Criminal Law:
 a) Treason and political crimes.
 b) Freedom of the press.
 c) Slavery was abolished.
 d) Extradition was discussed.
4. Criminal Codification
Penal codification work began to take place in 1830. That year Congress appointed a Commission to draft a Penal
Code, another for criminal procedure and a third for a Jury Law.
However, only citizen Pedro Pablo Díaz, member of the Commission in charge of drafting the Jury Law, presented
to Congress in 1823 a project for the establishment of trial by jury.
Thus, there were many Penal Code projects in the legislative evolution of Venezuela: those of 1904, 1912, 1916
and 1926. However, some authors have suggested urgent reforms to the current Penal Code that are due to the
evolution of Criminal Law itself.
THE ANALOGY IN CRIMINAL LAW
The word analogy means "Relationship of similarity between different things" and specifically applied its use to
the field of law: "Method by which a legal norm is extended, by identity of reason, to cases not included in it."
Next we are going to delve into the definition of the analogy in law and specifically in Spanish criminal law.
The principle of legality implies the prohibition of analogy in criminal law, but we must analyze it more deeply to
know how this statement works. We can define analogy in the following way: Analogy consists of the application
of a norm to an assumption that is not included in the law or its spirit, but presents similarities to the assumptions
that said norm includes.
ORGANIC CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE (COPP)
It establishes all the procedures that must be carried out in a jurisdictional case that determines the due guilt.
As its name indicates, it is in charge of criminal proceedings.
Its purpose is to restore the social order that was unbalanced by some crime; The criminal action is public, since
the State is the one who administers justice through penal development; which implies everything from the power
to prosecute the crime to the fact of executing the criminal sanctions that materialize in the conviction.
The Organic Code of Criminal Procedure, together with the constitution, aims to guarantee the rights of both the
victim and the accused, preserve the balance of both parties, and maintain orality as much as possible.
Said code currently has modifications where it allows the presumption of the innocence of the accused, ownership
of the criminal action and the principle of citizen participation, as well as the balance of the defense of both
parties.
INTERDICTION IN VENEZUELAN CIVIL LAW
It constitutes the state of a person who has been declared incapable of acts of civil life due to suffering from or
lack of a serious intellectual defect or by virtue of a criminal conviction.
According to the Venezuelan Civil Code , the interdicted person (name given to the person subject to interdiction)
is subject to a full, general and uniform negotiating incapacity, depriving him of the administration and
management of his assets , even if he has intervals of lucidity. (Art.393 CCV)
WHO CAN BE SUBJECTED TO INTERDICTION?
1.- Those of legal age (Art.393 CCV)
2.- Emancipated Minors (Art.393 CCV)
3.- Non-Emancipated Minors, provided they are in the last year of their minor age (Art.394 CCV) . In this case,
the interdiction does not take effect until the person reaches majority; its usefulness consists in ensuring the
continuity of the protection of the subject who will automatically pass from parental authority to guardianship of
minors to guardianship of interdicts.
Why does the interdiction only operate on those of legal age and those who are emancipated?
Because the unemancipated minor is under parental authority .
Interdiction cannot be declared if the person suspected of having a serious intellectual defect has been questioned,
and four of his or her immediate relatives or, failing that , family friends, have been heard . (Art. 396 CCV)
Structure of the Organic Code of Criminal Procedure.
The Organic Code of Criminal Procedure consists of a Preliminary Title, five Books and a Final Book.
The five Books of the COPP are divided as follows:
The First Book deals with the general part of the criminal procedure and everything related to the regime of
criminal action and civil action; The Second Book refers to the ordinary procedure; the Third Book to special
procedures; Book Four to resources; and, the Fifth Book, to the execution of the sentence. The Final Book refers to
the validity, the transitional procedural regime; the organization of the courts, the Public Ministry and the public
defense, for action in the criminal process.
Subjective and objective criminal law
The first consists of the power to do or not do a thing; The second is a law, rule or norm that commands us, that
allows us or that prohibits us. (Jimenez de Asúa)
Subjective: (“ius puniendi”: power of the State to punish) is the ability of the State to dictate rules of conduct
according to the purposes it pursues and to punish offenders. It is a power, since only the State can dictate criminal
laws. It is also a duty, because it is the function of the State to maintain social order and restore it when it has been
violated.
Objective: (“ius poenale”) is the legal regime, or set of rules through which the State systematizes, limits and
specifies its punitive power, thus fulfilling its function of guaranteeing and protecting legal assets; end of Criminal
Law.
The Law is classified into:
• Substantive Law: refers to the set of rules that establishes the rights and obligations of subjects who are bound by
the legal order established by the state.
• Adjective law: for its part, it is made up of those rules also issued by the competent body of the state that allow
the exercise of the rights and compliance with the duties established with the substantive law.
SUBSTANTIVE LAW:
From another point of view, substantive law directly regulates and bases the content of duties and powers: civil
law, criminal law, commercial law, etc. Thus, Art. 185 of the civil code establishes the causes of divorce. This
device is simply substantive. Substantive criminal law is also called substantive criminal law and is what is
enshrined in the criminal code. It is worth mentioning that substantive criminal law is the static part or image
without movement, while adjective criminal law is the dynamic part or moving image.
Examples of substantive law:
• Rules that declare the age of majority.
• Creditor rights.
• Debtor obligations.
Substantive law is the set of rules that can be recognized and admitted through different legal systems, giving
security and certainty to subjects.
Substantive law is that which deals with the substance of the matter, recognizing rights, obligations, etc. It is the
one that is found in the norm that gives life to a certain legal figure, legal act or typical figure, it imposes the
behaviors that individuals must follow in society, it is also related to procedural law, procedural rules, substantive
deadlines, etc. . For example, in criminal matters we can see that substantive criminal law says “he who deprives
another of his life will be punished.”
This regulates what should be, which imposes the behaviors that individuals must follow in society.
For example:
The rule according to which someone who causes harm to another must repair it is a typical rule of substantive or
material law, because it imposes a legal obligation of reparation or compensation in favor of the victim, on the part
of the person who committed the harm against her. illicit act.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CRIMINAL LAW:
1. it's public
2. teleological finalist
3. is evaluative
4. is a guarantor
5. it's cultural
6. It's normative.
7. it's sanctioning
8. It is a regulator of human behavior
9. it's personalism
SOURCE OF CRIMINAL LAW
 direct source
 indirect source
Diffuse control: it can occur in any distance court
Concentrated control: control exercised in the constitutional chamber
Constitutional Chamber : It is made up of 7 magistrates, maximum filed
Judgment (binding)
Binding: it is faithfully complied with by all the courts and citizens of the republic.