Summary

Clause 2 of subsection 1 of section 38 of the Code of Criminal Procedure grants a victim the right to file a civil action against the accused and/or civil defendant, and possibly in certain cases also against a third party. The Code of Criminal Procedure does not specify what the victim can claim in a civil action and on what basis. For a long time, and sometimes even now, the opinion prevailed in judicial practice as if it were only possible to claim compensation for damage caused by a criminal offence in a civil action filed in a criminal proceeding, while commission of a criminal offence in itself is regarded as a cause for such a claim. It is not possible to support such an interpretation for several reasons, and it has been definitively rejected by the Supreme Court to date. This article demonstrates in the light of recent judicial practice that it is also possible to file claims other than claims for the compensation for damage in criminal proceedings; explains why the commission of a criminal offence in itself cannot serve as the basis of the victim’s claim; while also discussing the criteria used to decide whether a particular claim can be settled within the framework of criminal proceedings.