Dolus alternativus
The dolus alternativus ("alternative intent", from Latin old "the other of two"; nativus "born", "emerged") is a criminal law figure of intent . It describes a case in which the perpetrator wants a certain act without knowing which of two mutually exclusive facts he is thereby realizing. If the perpetrator seriously considers the realization of both facts to be possible or accepts them, he acts with cumulative intent ( dolus cumulativus ).
In the opinion of the Reichsgericht, there was a dolus alternativus in a case in which the perpetrator had stolen game without knowing whether it had already belonged to someone else through appropriation of the person entitled to hunt (i.e. it was a foreign matter) or was still ownerless . In the first case resulted in a theft , in the second case a criminal hunt poaching because wild animals are unclaimed.
Cases of the dolus alternativus resolves the prevailing opinion in jurisprudence and literature by punishing them with the attempted offense for a completed act in unity , as long as the offense is tentatively punishable and there is no case of subsidiarity . If the act is unsuccessful, two attempted acts can be punished in unity, the punishment being based on the offense with the highest punishment.
literature
- Uwe Murmann: Basic course in criminal law. Beck Verlag, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-406-61586-3 .
- Rudolf Rengier : Criminal Law. General part. 5th edition. Beck Verlag, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-406-65258-5 .
- Wessels (greeting), Beulke (arrangement): Criminal law. General part. 42nd edition. CF Müller Verlag, Heidelberg 2012, ISBN 978-3-8114-9336-0 .
