| Abstract [eng] |
The Master's thesis analyses the regulation of forgery of a document or possession of a forged document as a criminal offence in Lithuania and in selected foreign countries (Germany, France, England), on the basis of criminal laws, jurisprudence and doctrine. It also provides a historical analysis of the origins and further development of the offence in Lithuania. The criminal offence, analysed in this Master's thesis, was first established in the Lithuanian legal system in 1529 in the First Statute of Lithuania. Later, the Second (1566) and Third (1588) Statutes of Lithuania introduced a more sophisticated regulation of document forgery. The Statutes of Lithuania punished the forgery of documents of the ruler, nobles and their officials with the death penalty. The next source of criminal law in independent Lithuania, the Criminal Statute, introduced more advanced legal norms providing for criminal liability for forgery and the use of various types of documents and, for the first time, provided for an age limit for criminal liability and a special subject. The criminal code in force from the time of the restoration of the Lithuanian State until 1 May 2003 provided the clearest regulation for the forgery of official documents or the disposal or use of forged official documents. For the first time it established the material composition of a criminal offence in the context of the qualifying elements. Article 300 of the current criminal code of the Republic of Lithuania establishes criminal liability for forgery of a document or disposal of a forged document. At first glance, the article may appear to be comprehensive and uncontroversial, but there are some problems in explaining the content of the object, the subject matter, the qualifying elements – major damage or large quantity – in the context of the criminal law and case law. The question arises whether it would not be logical to introduce the objective element of „obtaining a false document“; to delete the concept of a social security certificate from Article 300(2) and (3) of the criminal code, as it is out of step with the reality of life. Finally, a detailed analysis of the elements of the offence under Article 300 of the criminal code is presented. The offence of falsifying a document or using a false document is also prohibited in foreign countries such as Germany, France or England, whose criminal laws regulate the offence similarly. I.e., the formal elements of the offences are laid down in these States; the objective elements are manifested through the creation of a false document, the forgery of a genuine document or the use of a false or forged genuine document; and the presence of intent must be established in order to prosecute a person. However, there are some differences in foreign regulations. I.e., Germany and England only punish material counterfeiting, whereas France punishes material and intellectual counterfeiting, the three countries have different privileging and qualifying elements, different age limits for criminal liability, in France and England the subject can be a legal person, whereas the German criminal code does not, in Germany and England it is necessary to prove the existence of a criminal purpose. |
