Responsibility of parents for misdemeanors committed by their descendants

Abstract

The subject of the authors' attention are certain questions concerning the responsibility for the acts of other persons in the misdemeanor law of the Republic of Serbia. Under certain conditions, if a child or a minor (descendants) commits a misdemeanor, instead of him or together with him, other persons can be held responsible as well, foremost his parents who had not exercised due supervision. There is a difference between the responsibility of a parent whose children have committed a misdemeanor and are under 14, and that of a parent whose children are between 14 and 18 years old. Therefore, there is a difference in terms of responsibility of the parent depending on if the person who committed the misdemeanor is, from the perspective of the Misdemeanor Law, a child or a minor. The authors critically analyze the articles of the Misdemeanor Law that concern the responsibility of the parent for the misdemeanors committed by their descendants. In the end, they conclude that the Misdemeanor Law undermines one of the essential legal principle that the 'scope of rights has to correspond to the scope of obligations and responsibility'.