The criminal offence of entrusting a vehicle to be driven on public roads
Abstract
The following article has set its aim to present and analyze some of the specialized legal literature opinions regarding the elements which form the criminal offence of entrusting a vehicle to someone who does not own a driver’s license or who is under the influence of alcohol or psychoactive substances, as regulated by Article 335 paragraph (3) of the in force Romanian Criminal Code. Naturally, such systematization is doubled by the author’s personal observations, which intend to open a new perspective on particular controversial scenarios or, at least, to propose additional arguments regarding the opinions already established in the legal literature.
The author’s approach is similar to the one that is commonly used in the Romanian doctrine, the analysis starting with the reason behind the incrimination, followed by observations referring to the constituent elements of the crime (subject, object, objective, and subjective dimension) and ending with other elements that characterize the criminal offence under analysis (relation with other criminal offences). The author emphasizes the more problematic situations, which generate (or have the ability to generate) debates in the legal literature and judicial practice.
At present, the criminal offence of entrusting a vehicle is often analyzed briefly in the literature, probably due to the fact that such a criminal offence seems unchallenging at a first glance. The author tries to prove that this criminal offence has more to offer and could be the source of many interesting theoretical discussions.
On the one hand, the article offers the reader an overview of the main aspects concerning the offence of entrusting a vehicle, and on the other hand, the present article “sets the ground” for a future scientific approach of the author, respectively that in which he will analyze the relationship between this offence and subsequent result offences (manslaughter or culpable personal injury), a subject that is intensely discussed in the legal literature.
