Review article
https://doi.org/10.54070/hljk.30.1.6
Analysis of the Criminal Offence of Unlawful Debt Collection
Dinko Ljubić
orcid.org/0000-0002-2705-7192
Abstract
In this paper, the author examines the criminal offence of illegal collection in its social and historical context, namely the circumstances that have influenced the development of the said offence. In order to be able to look at the wider issue, both the civil and criminal legal aspects of the criminal activity are analysed. An unlawful act of collection is an independent criminal act, namely a crime of violence, committed by a defaulting creditor or debt collector, in whose execution practices are inherently acts of violence, harassment and intimidation, for the purpose of the collection (settlement) of the debt. The above is classified as a criminal offence from the realm of organised crime, and as such the Croatian legislator classified it as a criminal offence against public order. The illegal activity of debt collection finds its legalbasis in the previous legal relationship, of a civil law nature, which, through the application of the institute of cession, transfers the claim from the current creditor to the new creditor, while the debtor in question remains the same. The above cited criminal offence, in terms of the number of actions, is a complex criminal offence. The offence consists of two criminal actions: (1) imposing force or a serious threat, and (2) settlement of the claim. The offence of illegal collection endangers the enforcement procedure as a primary protective object. Furthermore, it also includes elements of behaviour from the domain of property crime, such as extortion. This
paper is thematically divided into introductory considerations, the social context, the civil and
criminal aspects of the offence, and finally concluding remarks.
Keywords
illegal collection, debt collectors, lack of will, cession, organised crime, violent crime
Hrčak ID:
313051
URI
Publication date:
30.11.2023.
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