Aspects regarding the penal responsibility of public officers

• Author: Nicoleta-Elena Buzatu
• Position: Faculty of Juridical and Administrative Sciences 'Dimitrie Cantemir' Christian University, Bucharest, Romania
• Pages: 1-4

AGORA International Journal of Juridical Sciences, www.juridicalj ournal.univagora.ro

ISSN 1843-570X, E-ISSN 2067-7677

No.1 (2012), pp. 13-16

13

ASPECTS REGARDING THE PENAL RESPONSIBILITY OF P UBLIC OFFICERS

N. E. Buzatu

Nicoleta-Elena Buzatu

Faculty of Juridical and Administrative Sciences

“Dimitrie Cantemir” Christian University, Bucharest, Romania

*Correspondence: Nicoleta-Elena Buzatu, “Dimitrie Cantemir” Christian University, 176

Splaiul Unirii, Bucharest, Romania

E-mail: nicoleta_buzatu@yahoo.com

Abstract

The penal responsibility of th e public officer appears then when he has committed a

transgression in exercising his duties or in situatio ns connected to his office duties. The

public officer can play an active ro le in a transgression when he commits the deed as

author/co-author, instigator or accomplice, but he can also play a passive role when the

transgression is committed by other persons against him.

Key words: public officer, Penal Code, statute, responsibility.

Introduction

The penal respo nsibility is a form of juridical responsibility. Moreover, it is the

result of the non-observance of the juridical penal norms. To establish the general order of

law as well as the penal order of law supposes - from the part of all those whom the law

addresses - a behaviour in consonance with its provisions for a normal evolution of the

social relationships.

The penal order of law is achieved through the observance of the dispositions

provided by the law i n case of conflicting situations - by the majority of those whom the law

addresses to and especially by the public officers. In case the y do not adapt their behaviour in

harmony with the penal dispositions by committing forbidden deeds, the order of law is

restored and implicitly achieved, by coer cion within a penal juridical conflicting report.

1

As

stipulated in art. 17 paragraph 2 of the Penal Code, an offence/ infringement of t he law is the

sole ground of the penal responsibility. Within the penal juridical conflicting report there

shall be established the existence of the fact that generates a penal responsibility and the

corresponding penalty to be applied and completed by the public of ficer.

Art. 2 paragraph 2 of the Statute of the Public Officer

2

defines the public officer as

the person legally appointed in a public function. At the same ti me, the second proposition of

the above mentioned paragraph provides that the person dis missed from a public office and is

a member of the reserve team of public officers is still considered to be a public officer.

1

For more details see Mitrache, Constantin; Mitrache Cristian – Drept penal român. Partea general, VIII

th

edition,

Universul Juridic Printing House, Bucharest, 2010, pp. 336-337; Nechita (Mihu) Elena-Ana, Laura-Roxana

Popoviciu – Drept penal. Criminalistic. Culegere de spee d in practica judiciar, Agora University Press, Oradea,

2008.

2

Law no 188 of December 8, 1999 regarding the Statute of the Public Officer, published in the Official Gazette of

Romania, Part I, no. 600 of December 8, 1999, republished.