Normative legal term
A normative legal term is a legal term that needs to be interpreted . These are general clauses such as “ good faith ”, “ custom ” or terms that require evaluation such as “ immoral ”, “neglected” and the like.
Normative and descriptive elements
Normative factual features are those that cannot be determined to exist on the basis of mere perception, but only on the basis of a legal assessment of the perceived facts or circumstances.
In contrast, descriptive elements are descriptive features that can be determined solely on the basis of sensory perception. No legal assessment is required.
A normative element of the offense is, for example, the strangeness of a thing in the event of theft in accordance with Section 242 (1) StGB . The strangeness is to be determined in the objective fact according to the general criteria of civil law . The intent , as a criterion of the subjective fact, must, among other things, refer to the strangeness. This shows that the strangeness is not a purely descriptive element, but a normative one. So the perpetrator must know that the thing is strange. To do this, he must make a legal assessment so that it is not just a matter of factual knowledge, but also the legal assessment. The parallel scoring in the lay sphere is sufficient for this . According to the prevailing opinion , an error about foreignness is therefore a factual error according to Section 16 (1) StGB.
literature
- Creifeld's legal dictionary . 24th edition with CD-Rom, ISBN 978-3-40655-394-3
