“Facts of Consciousness” in the Criminal Judgment

Elek Balázs 
(Faculty of Law, Debrecen University, Hungary)

Abstract: It is beyond doubt that the obligation of the court to reveal facts applies to all relevant phenomena that are significant from the point of view of criminal judgment. The statements recorded in the personal and historical part of the statement of facts as a result of that can not only be external happenings of a physical nature, but can also be so called internal happenings, which we may call facts of consciousness. But the factual establishment of this content of consciousness must definitely be separated from the other essential field of the judge’s judgmental action, from the legal evaluation of established facts, from the decision about the criminal responsibility, and from the qualification of the feasance.

The elements that take place in the mind, in the world of thought of the proprietor can be listed on the subjective side of the crime. If a certain form of culpability cannot be established, then the crime itself fails to be realized. The recording of the will, consciousness and thoughts of the proprietor, the establishment of the so called facts of consciousness requires an action of different quality than the shaping of external objective circumstances into a historical statement of facts.

But the distinguished duality and opposition of the question of facts and the question of law in the external reality, as its terms, are simply non-existent.

Key words: criminal procedure, facts, consciousness, criminal judgement