Criminal Law: Legal Type, Elements, and Offense Classification

Introduction to the Legal Concept of 'Type'

The concept of 'type' is broadly considered as the sum of all its constituent elements, a concept to which reference is made in legal theory. Ernst von Beling alludes to the word 'type' in the general sense of law as the set of all presuppositions whose existence is tied to a legal consequence. Article 19 outlines elements of crimes.

Beling's Structural Analysis of Crime Types

Beling's structure for understanding crime types includes:

• Type of crime (criminal figure): The specific definition of the offense.
• Legality: The leading legal principle.
• Type of lawfulness: Identified by unlawful acts referred to a particular figure.
• Type of guilt: The specific intent required by a figure.
• Typical alignment: The relationship between the real and concrete fact and the legal type.
• Authenticity: The need to define crimes in specific legal types.

Mezger's Definition of Criminal Legal Type

Mezger states that, in the proper sense of criminal justice, 'type' refers to the unlawful means specifically described by law in its various articles, and whose performance is linked to a criminal sanction.

Descriptive Legal Type

The descriptive legal type is the specific description made by law regarding conduct that, when it occurs, leads to a particular outcome, such as a conspiracy, and is linked to a criminal penalty.

Evolution of the Legal Type Concept

The evolution of the legal type concept involves:

• Independence: Criminality and illegality as fundamental elements of crimes.
• Indicative character: The descriptive nature of the type.
• Identity: What the typical act possesses.
• Unlawfulness (Antijuridicidad): The relationship between the type and wrong in the structure of crime.

Key Elements of the Legal Type

These are elements that can be appreciated through simple knowledge and whose function is to describe the behavior or fact that may be subject to imputation and penal responsibility.

Descriptive Elements (According to Mezger)

Mezger identifies several descriptive elements:

• Modalities not initially of interest to the law.
• Qualities referring to the active subject (the perpetrator).
• A spatial and temporal reference for the commission of the act.
• The material object.

Normative Elements

Normative elements are unjust presuppositions that can only be determined through a special assessment of the factual situation.

Subjective Elements

Legal types often contain very subjective elements because they are relative to the motive and purpose of the conduct described.

Classification of Offenses (Mezger)

Mezger categorizes different kinds of offenses:

• Crimes of simple activity and crimes of result.
• Crimes of injury and crimes of fundamental danger.
• Composite types.
• Types requiring complement.

Basic or Fundamental Types

These are integral elements, forming the essence or basis of other legal provisions.

Special Types

Special types are formed with elements of a basic type, but acquire their own distinct legal existence and independence.

Integral Types

Through the basic type, integral types incorporate extra elements that are subordinate to it.

Accessory and Special Types

These can be:

1. Qualified or aggravated.
2. Privileged or attenuated.

Autonomous Types

Autonomous types are distinct from others, taking on their own independent legal existence.