The object of criminal law is understood as a specific group of relations protected by the criminal law, which are encroached upon by a crime. The subject of criminal law is a person who commits a crime, while being able to bear criminal responsibility for this act.
The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation does not include the concepts of a subject, an object of criminal law. Their definitions can be derived on the basis of some of the rules of this document. In general, these terms are correctly disclosed in the theory of criminal law. The most accurate definition seems to be A. I. Chuchaev, which is given in the comments to the codified act. It should be noted that the concepts of an object, a subject are basic for the branch of criminal law, since all legislative regulation of these social relations is based on this theory.
What is the object of criminal law?
In accordance with the definition of A. I. Chuchaev, certain social relations protected by criminal law are considered the object of criminal law. The categories of these social relations are named in a special part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, since specific criminal acts in it are grouped precisely on this basis. These relations are infringed upon when committing any actions, inaction falling under the criminal law. The object of criminal law should not be confused with the object of encroachment, since the latter category is much more specific. In addition, it is the object that is one of the necessary elements of the corpus delicti of any criminal act; its absence indicates the absence of the crime itself.
What is a subject of criminal law?
The concept of a subject of criminal law is also quite simple, since it implies a specific person who commits an act punishable by criminal procedure. At the same time, the specified person must be able to bear responsibility for the crime committed. The last condition means that a person who has committed a crime must reach the age at which responsibility for a specific act comes, to be sane. The absence of any of the two indicated signs makes it impossible to recognize a particular citizen as a subject of criminal law. It should be noted that the subject is also an obligatory element of the corpus delicti, therefore the absence of this element excludes criminal liability. It is by virtue of the characteristics of the subject of this industry that the illegal actions of children and other persons who do not understand the meaning of their own actions are not considered crimes.
