Przymus psychiczny w polskim prawie karnym okresu międzywojennego

Abstract

In the Polish penal law of the twenty year period between the world wars, following post-annexation codifi cation, the psychological coercion (vis compulsiva) was admitted as a rationale for criminal liability of a person who involuntarily committed a criminal act. Not regulated directly by the penal code of 1932 the psychological coercion was associated with a state of necessity. In reality, most often it took the shape of a threat. Its characteristics were the subject of a dispute among experts in the Polish penal code in the twenty year period between the world wars. Some of the experts associated it with a physical coercion (vis absoluta) regulated in Art. 19 of the Code, which wholly excluded criminal liability of the perpetrator. As the issue was complex, it was discussed by head Polish experts in the penal law of that time (J. Makarewicz, W. Makowski, E. Krzymuski, W. Wolter, E.S. Rappaport, S. Śliwiński).