In thecriminal law of some countries with acivil law system, anAntragsdelikt (pluralAntragsdelikte), "no trial without a complaint", is a category of offense which cannot be prosecuted without a complaint by the victim. The same concept has been adopted inJapanese law under the nameshinkokuzai (Japanese:親告罪), inSouth Korean law under the namechingojoe (Korean:친고죄), in thelaw of Taiwan (both during theearly Republic period and post-1949Taiwan) using various terms,[1][2] inDutch law under the nameklachtdelict, inBelgian law under the nameklachtmisdrijf/crime de plainte, inFinnish law under the nameasianomistajarikos and inIndonesian law under the namedelik aduan.
The term comes from theGerman language wordsAntrag (petition) andDelikt (offense, from Latin "dēlictum").Antragsdelikte are similar to (but not identical) in definition toErmächtigungsdelikte.[clarification needed] For example, in Austria the latter category includes such offenses astrespassing orfraud committed in an emergency situation. The victim's consent is required for investigation of anAntragsdelikt to begin; no such consent is required in the case of anErmächtigunsdelikt, though the prosecutor will inform the victim. In both cases, actual prosecution of the offense will only proceed with the consent of the victim.[3] Another term isPrivatklagedelikte.[4]
Antragsdelikt is somewhat analogous to the concept of acompoundable offense inThai law, though different from that synonymous term inMalaysian law orSingaporean law.[1]
In contrast to Offizialdelikte, major crimes are those which the prosecutors will investigate and bring charges with or without a victim's complaint; Antragsdelikte are minor criminal offences that will only be prosecuted under German law if the victim files a "Strafantrag" ("application" or "criminal complaint" or "request to prosecute") within a certain deadline.
The German Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch) lists the following as offenses which will only be prosecuted on request:
In addition, the German Criminal Code states that the following offences will be prosecuted on the request of the victim or in the case of "special public interest":
German law also has a converse category of crimes which require prosecution in any case, no matter if there is a complainant or not. These offenses, or "ex officio crimes", are called "Offizialdelikte" in German(Delikte is the plural).
The concept ofshinkokuzai first entered into Japanese law in the earlyMeiji period. The 1870 criminal codeShinritsu Kōryō (新律綱領), though it did not use the term directly, stated that the prosecution of a number of violent offenses between husband and wife depended on a complaint by the person in question. The phrase used to express this condition,mizukaratsugeru wo mate, is probably the origin of the modern termshinkokuzai;mizukara tsugeru (to inform personally) contains two of the samekanji used to writeshinkokuzai.[5] The draft criminal code of November 1877 used the termshinkokuzai directly in the definitions of various offenses.[6] Under modern Japanese law, before July 13, 2017,[7]sexual offenses such asrape orindecent assault were categorized asshinkokuzai, lest a prosecution against the victim's will result insecondary victimization or infringement ofprivacy.[1]
In South Korea, the following offenses are categorized aschingojoe:[8]
The termqīngàozuì (Chinese:親告罪) was used in laws in China's early Republic era (1912–1928), for example in the 1921 Criminal Procedure Ordinance or the 1928 Criminal Procedure Law.[9] However, in modern terminology, the concept of a crime for which there will be no trial without complaint is usually expressed asgàosunǎilùn zhī zuì (Chinese:告訴乃論之罪).
TheCriminal Code of Taiwan, inherited from the Republic of China, uses the termChinese:告訴乃論;pinyin:gàosù nǎi lùn (lit. "action only if complained"). There are currently five offenses in this category, all of which are minor offenses against individuals: insult, defamation, infringement of freedom of marriage (usually by parents), maltreat (of family members) and ordinary embezzlement. However, the Criminal Code does state that any such offense resulting in serious consequences (e.g. serious injury or death) is prosecutable without complaint.
A 1999 amendment to Taiwan'sCriminal Code removed indecent assault and rape (Article 239; with the exception ofspousal rape) from this category,[10] In 2003, another amendment removedcybercrime from this category and penalties were increased, likely as a response to theCIH computer virus incident[11] where prosecutors were unable to charge the perpetrators involved because no victims came forward with a lawsuit.[12]
While no formal class of law equivalent to theAntragsdelikt exists in thelaw ofEgypt, several religious crimes, includingapostasy, cannot be prosecuted on the initiative of the public prosecutor; the case must instead be raised by another citizen.[citation needed]
