The adjective legitimate , from the Latin word legitĭmus , is used to describe what is legal . What is legitimate, therefore, does not contradict what is established by law .
For example: “The lawyer considered that it is legitimate for the former governor to present himself as a candidate, since he has not yet been convicted in any of the cases in which he is accused,” “The Electoral Court ratified that the victory of the ruling party in the elections legislative measures was totally legitimate” , “The work of street vendors is legitimate” .
Take the case of soccer jerseys that are marketed to the public. An original t-shirt is one manufactured by the company that has the corresponding license: in that case, the product is legitimate . On the other hand, if someone makes a t-shirt without authorization and imitates the characteristics of the brand that owns the license, the garment in question is not legitimate, but a counterfeit .
At the level of law, we speak of self-defense when the carrying out of an action sanctioned at a criminal level is justified by the circumstances and its executor, in this way, is exempt from responsibility. If a man defends himself against an attacker who tries to stab him and, in the course of the fight, ends up killing the attacker, a judge will likely consider that it was an act of self-defense.
This concept is also known as self-defense or self-defense and appears in many fictional stories, as it results in very risky and violent acts on the part of the hero without the authorities sending him to jail. When a mother murders the person who threatens to attack her children, we do not want her to be locked up but we understand her pain and her decision to protect her loved ones.
It is important to note that in some cases of self-defense the perpetrator must serve a certain sentence; The main difference with a premeditated crime carried out in cold blood is that the penalty is considerably reduced. To reach this stage in which the executor is "forgiven", certain requirements must be met.
On the one hand there are the essential requirements , the existence of which is mandatory in order to speak of legitimate defense. It must be an illegitimate aggression that endangers some personal and/or own legal property. This means that the damage must be directed to property that belongs to a particular person.
The aggression must be an action and not an omission, and must be intentional ; In other words, the aggressor must act consciously and voluntarily when causing harm. There must be a real danger to the property in question and the action must be classified .
In summary, the essential requirements point to there being a true need for defense to avoid the potential harm of the attack. On the other hand, there are non-essential requirements , which serve to apply the complete exemption.
One of them establishes that the means used for defense must be proportional to the danger created by the illegitimate aggressor: if the attack consists of painting the facade of a building, shooting him with a firearm is not justified. Another non-essential requirement of self-defense is lack of provocation : the victim cannot intentionally provoke the aggressor to push him to commit his act of violence.
In Argentine legislation, meanwhile, there is the figure of the legitimate user : a person who meets the legal requirements to access a firearm and who, according to the provisions of the regulations in each case, can have it, transport it, carry it and /or use it.