Criminal Description of the Qualifying Norms of Fraud Based on the Analysis of Georgian Court Practice

Abstract

During the implementation of the research, the qualifying elements of Article 180 (Fraud) of the Criminal Code of Georgia will be discussed. This paper will refer to the issue of a new definition of a qualifying norm of fraud “in large quantities” made by the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court of Georgia in 2012, after which different positions about the definition of the norm were formed in the legal literature and court practice. This paper will try to show a different view with regard to this issue. This paper aims to explore and identify the main problems that may arise in the activities of investigative and judiciary bodies in the event that similar cases are qualified according to a new definition of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court. This paper will discuss hypothetical cases and examples of comparison, and it will try to sub- stantiate what are the problems that exist in court practice during the application of the qualifying norms with regard to the Article under consideration. This paper will try to highlight the main issues, which, during the application of the norm raise the problem in court practice due to misinterpretation of the norm. The last part of the paper will provide a view about the problems related to the definition and application of special (qualifying) norms of fraud, as well as our views on the introduction of a new qualifying norm.