Related and Competing Norms: Qualification Issues

The article draws attention to the importance of understanding the signs of related and competing norms for the qualification of crimes. The definition of the ratio of compounds as adjacent or competing is not unambiguous in the study of this issue by various specialists. One of the reasons for the difficulty in identifying the ratio of compositions is the failure to maintain a balance between the casuistic and abstract methods of legislative technique in the construction of criminal law norms. The concept of competition of criminal law norms is given and attention is drawn to two of its most common types: competition of general and special norms and competition of a part and a whole. The definition of related norms is formulated. It is emphasized that related norms can have both neutral and mutually exclusive features. It is concluded that related norms cannot be competitive. The difference in the rules of competition of adjacent and competing norms is that adjacent norms containing neutral features can form an ideal set of crimes, while those containing mutually exclusive features do not, while in the case of competition of norms, a set of crimes is not formed, only one norm is subject to application.