Problems of the Application of Recourse Against a Person Who Has Caused Damage by Illegal Acts in Criminal Proceedings: The Case of Lithuania

Abstract

The need to compensate for material and moral damage caused to a person is a constitutional principle, which is implemented in Article 6.272 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania, establishing the non-contractual liability of the State for damage caused by pre-trial investigation officers, a prosecutor, a judge, or a court (hereinafter referred to as the "Officials"). Furthermore, Article 6.272(4) of the Civil Code provides that if the damage is caused by the intentional actions of the Officials, the State shall acquire the right of recourse in accordance with the procedure laid down by law. In Lithuania, the number of cases of compensation for damage caused by unlawful acts of the Officials is increasing, while the recourse procedure has not yet been applied even though 20 years have passed since the above-mentioned rule of the Civil Code came into force. The authors of the article search for the answer why the recourse procedure is not applied in practice by analysing the legal regulation of the regression and the content of intentional fault using theoretical, comparative, linguistic, historical, jurisprudence analysis, and related legal methods.