Prescription may mean the extinction of a legal effect.
The Latin term praescribere became, in our language , to prescribe . The concept has several meanings that vary according to the context. For example, it may be the action of indicating, decreeing or fixing something , as can be seen in the following examples: "I am going to prescribe cough syrup" , "The doctor prescribed me some pills to control my blood pressure" , "The boss is going to prescribe the use of a new uniform in the company."
The most frequent use of the notion, however, is found in law . The prescription of something refers to its extinction or conclusion : prescribing, therefore, is equivalent to ceasing to have legal effect.
Characteristics of prescription in law
The prescription, in this sense, is given by the passage of time that causes certain rights to be consolidated or lost. In general, it is understood that prescription is responsible for legally consolidating a situation that was already effective in fact.
If someone indicates that "Three people were acquitted when the crime with which they were charged expired" , this will be referring to the fact that these three individuals will not receive a sentence since the alleged crime they committed has expired in terms of the possibility that those responsible receive a punishment. This is linked to the deadline established by law for the development of the pertinent investigation and the punishment of the guilty parties.
Suppose that a crime A judge will have that period to issue the ruling that sanctions or acquits the accused according to the results of an investigation. If, for some reason, the deadline is met without the magistrate being in a position to issue his ruling, then it will be too late for a conviction .
In law, prescription occurs due to the passage of time.
The notion in the Penal Code of Spain
According to the Penal Code of Spain , for example, crimes do not have a single limitation period, but rather this has a direct relationship with the maximum penalty that is provided for each particular case and is counted from the day of the commission of the crime. crime. Article 131 establishes the following statutes of limitations for crimes:
* after 20 years if the maximum sentence is 15 years or more;
* at 15 years if the maximum penalty is disqualification for a period greater than 10 years or imprisonment between 10 and 15 years;
* after 10 years if the maximum penalty is disqualification or imprisonment for a period greater than 5 years and less than or equal to 10;
* 5 years in the rest of the cases, with the exception of slander and insult, which have a statute of limitations of one year ( misdemeanors , for their part, prescribe after 6 months).
Since the Law must cover a large number of potential criminal acts, there are certain special considerations that are not listed above; For example, in cases of compound sentences, the one with a longer statute of limitations must be chosen. On the other hand, crimes such as genocide and crimes against humanity, for their part, never have a statute of limitations , nor does terrorism (as long as it causes the death of someone).
Interruption of prescription
It is important to note that the statute of limitations for a crime may be interrupted if in the middle of the investigation or judicial process a new suspect emerges and the case turns against him.
In a situation like this, the elapsed time is ignored and the corresponding deadline begins to be calculated again . All this information is publicly accessible and people involved in criminal trials should access it to better understand their rights.