Bien Jurídico

What is the Legal Good?

Introduction to Legal Good

• The video discusses the concept of "legal good" and its significance in criminal law. It aims to analyze the objective elements of criminal types, focusing on what constitutes a legal good and its relevance in penal law.

Historical Context

• The term "legal good" originates from historical analyses by various scholars. Feuerbach posited that a criminal act harms or endangers a subjective public right.

• Johann Franz Beck criticized Feuerbach's view, suggesting that a crime does not extinguish the public right but rather threatens it, leading to the idea that what is endangered is indeed a legal good.

• Franz Liszt later defined legal good as the interest protected by penal norms, which remains a widely accepted definition today.

Functions of Legal Good

• Legal goods serve as limitations within criminal law, allowing it to act only against behaviors that harm or threaten specific legal goods. This function acts as both a guarantee and limitation for penal actions.

• They also play an interpretative role concerning penal codes, helping categorize crimes based on the affected legal goods and clarifying what each norm aims to protect.

Classification of Legal Goods

By Ownership

• Legal goods can be classified into personal (belonging to individuals) and supra-personal (belonging to communities). Personal examples include life and individual property; supra-personal examples include public health and environmental protection.

By Availability

• There are two subcategories:

• Available legal goods: These can be disposed of by their owner (e.g., property, sexual freedom).

• Unavailable legal goods: These cannot be disposed of (e.g., one's own life, free development of personality), often seen in contexts like human trafficking discussions.

Practical Implications

• Understanding legal goods is crucial for determining sanctions in practice, particularly highlighted in Article 410 of the National Code of Criminal Procedure, which relates typical unlawful conduct to the value and degree of impact on these legal goods. This includes considering intent and circumstances surrounding actions taken against them.