The Constitutive Content on the Offense of Leaving Post and Working under the Influence of Alcohol or other Substances according to the New Criminal Code

• Author: Ion Rusu
• Position: Associate Professor, PhD, 'George Bacovia' University of Bacau, Romania
• Pages: 45-51

Legal Sciences in the New Millennium

45

The Constitutive Content on the Offense of Leaving Post and Working

under the Influence of Alcohol or other Substances according to the New

Criminal Code

Ion Rusu

1

Abstract: Within the paper it is examined the constitutive content of the o ffense on leaving post and the

presence to work under the influence of alcohol or other substances accordin g to the new criminal code

entered into force on 01.02.2014. The n ovelty consists in the examination performed in the light of the new

amendments and completions to the law, and the comparative analysis with the old law, considering the

transitional situations involving the more favorable application of the criminal law. The paper can be useful to

law students, academics and practitioners in the field, and all those in terested in the new legislative

amendments occurred in the Romanian criminal law, in this area.

Keywords: offense; the objective side; the subjective side; Romanian Criminal Law

1. Introduction

The Criminal Code of 1969 included offenses against the security of railway traffic in a separate

chapter under Title VI, with the marginal title “Crimes that are detrimental to some activities of public

interest or other activities regulated by law.”

In the New Criminal Code, these offenses are contained in Chapter I with the same title, within the

Title VII marginally called “Crimes against public safety”.

One of the offenses specific to safety domain for traffic and rail transports provided in the mentioned

chapter of the new Criminal Code it is the offense of “leaving post and the presence to work under the

influence of alcohol or other substances”, an incriminated offense in the content of article 331. Amid

some critical observations from the Romanian doctrine in the recent years (Rusu, 2009, p. 420), the

marginal title of the offense provided for in the Criminal Code of 1969 was amended.

Also, due to other critical opinions (Rusu, 2010, p. 51), in the new law there were introduced changes

regarding the active and passive subjects of the offense, widening their scope, according to the

regulations in this area.

In addition to the critical opinions the legislative changes were imposed also due to the significant

changes that have occurred in the last years regarding the structure, the organization and functioning

method of the circulation system and the railway transport as a hole.

Therefore, the new settlement brings a series of additions and significant changes in the constitutive

content of the examined offense.

1 Associate Professor, PhD, “George Bacovia” University of Bacau, Romania, Address: 157 Calea Marasesti, 600164 Bacau,

Romania, Tel.: +4034116448, Fax: +4034116448, Corresponding author: av.ionrusu@yahoo.com.