Abstract
The subject matter of the research analysis performed by this book is a discussion focused on the notion of extreme emergency (necessity), which is traditionally perceived in our legal order as the so-called "circumstances precluding wrongfulness" ("circumstances precluding illegality"), or, in other words, as a reason for acting which is justifying (i.e., justification in law) and not only apologising. At first, it deals with phenomenological issues, etymological and aetiological analyses of extreme emergency, its philosophical foundations and theoretical approaches to such issues.
The profundity of the topic and its urgency are then depicted by the description and analysis of classical cases of extreme emergency (from the so-called "plank of Carneades" or less known "Carneades's horse", to the Mignonette case and Cimrman's Conquest of the North Pole) and in the follow-up thereto also by the analysis of the cases which represent, in the author's opinion, the greatest challenge for a criminal legislator in the 21st century (Renegade scenario, issues of torture during interrogations in the effort of averting imminent danger, the issue of a shortage of the so-called rare resources or basic essentials of living). The third chapter deals with the beginning of a classical juridical analysis starting with historical analysis of the development of the notion of extreme emergency in domestic criminal law, which reveals the causes of many current approaches and criminal-law dogmas.
The core of the monograph (the fourth chapter) deals with a review of the applicable legislation contained in Section 28 of the Criminal Code, where it is possible to find an analysis of its substance and sense, as well as issues of the position of the notion of extreme emergency in the system of foundations of criminal liability. A key issue is then the question whether the assessment of cases of extreme emergency should be based on objective criteria or whether the decisive aspect is the question how the fact was perceived by the person acting in the state of emergency (subjective perception).
The greatest attention is then paid to individual conditions of extreme emergency, within the framework of which the author strictly differentiates between the conditions of the actual existence of extreme emergency and the conditions representing the limits (boundaries) of acting in the state of emergency. Appropriate attention is paid also to cases of deviations (excesses) from extreme emergency.
Specific issues to which autonomous attention is paid are especially apparent extreme emergency, obligation of certain persons to withstand certain dangers, danger originator's possibility of adverting the subsequently caused danger and the issues of adverting transferred dangers. The analysis of the legal regime "de lege lata" is followed up, in the fifth chapter, by the analysis of the most interesting cases of extreme emergency which have been dealt with by courts in our territory since the 19th century.
The last (sixth) chapter brings answers to basic research questions dedicated to the purpose and essence of the "extreme emergency" notion in criminal law (the first question), conformity of science interpretation and approach of the application practice with applicable legal regulation (the second question), assessment of the notion of extreme emergency from the viewpoint of general ideas of justice and fundamental principles of substantive criminal law (the third question). The final outcome of the analyses is a contemplation over Czech legal regulation in terms of de lege ferenda.
Although the book submitted is focused especially on criminal-law aspects, it does not ignore philosophical issues either.