A Study On Concept Of Acts In Criminal Law

In criminal law of the continental law system, the concept of acts in actuality originatedin the concept of imputation. Hegel scholars once maintained that the concepts of acts andimputations entailed each other. However, any imputation would have to be made afterascertaining the objects to be imputed, which are acts. So Berner segregated the two conceptsand discussed the concept of acts and its connotations separately. After that, scholars haveproposed varying concepts of acts and thus developed several theories of acts which mainlyinclude cause-effect theory, theory of purposive acts, theory of social acts and theory of actsconcerning personality. Thus it is fair to say that the concept of acts is fundamental and vitalto criminal law.Compared with the world of criminal law in civil law countries, scholars of criminal lawin China have paid less attention to the fundamental status of the concept of acts. So theauthor considers it worthy of study. The paper will thus discuss the concept of acts under thebasic theories of criminal law with Chinese characteristics.The paper, a work of about43,600words, is divided into four parts.The first part brings up the assumption. After a comparative study of legal acts, acts incivil law, and acts in criminal law, a single question is raised as to how to define an act undercriminal law. Considering that only a few literatures could be found on this topic in China, theauthor turned to studies in Germany and Japan and found that the concept of acts actuallyunderpins theories of criminal law. Therefore, the author decided to conduct some research onit for purposes of giving it due attention it deserves in the world of criminal law in China andsatisfying personal curiosity.The second part introduces and reviews theories of acts developed by the world ofcriminal law in continental law countries. The philosophical methods underlying each of thetheories are first introduced and the evolving history of the concept of acts is reviewed. Later,some conclusions of the mainstream theories of acts are made and two vital sets ofrequirements for the concept of acts are inferred from the discussion, namely functionalrequirements and specific requirements. In the end, a brief examination of several concepts ofacts is made against the two vital requirements.The third part proposes a concept of acts in criminal law and tries to justify its rationality. First, relevant studies on the concept of acts made by criminal law scholars in China arereviewed and an analysis is made of the concept of dangerous acts and acts in criminal lawagainst the two requirements mentioned in the previous part. Then a conclusion is made so asto provide reasonable ideas that could be included in the concept of acts to be proposed in thispaper. Secondly, based on knowledge of relevant studies on the concept of acts in China andthe two requirements concluded in the second part, the author proposed a new concept ofdangerous acts which fits the context of criminal law in China. Then a detailed introduction ismade as to the connotations of this concept under the specific requirements for a concept ofacts. However, a concept meeting the specific requirements might not satisfy the functionalrequirements. So the paper proceeds to introduce how the new concept meets all the threefunctional requirements and thus justify the rationality of it and its significance in criminal.The fourth part discusses the significance of studies on the concept of acts in criminallaw. First, a brief review is made of previous discussion on the theoretical and practicalsignificance of these studies. Then two new thoughts of the author as to the significance, boththeoretical and practical, are introduced. To be more specific, the study will in theory, givesrises to new ideas on the regulating objects of the criminal law, and practically, provideguidance for risk precaution in criminal law.