Just kidding how can it still be illegal? Jokes and pranks between friends are to add to the joy of life, but if they cause disasters or damages, they may violate the law and need to bear corresponding responsibilities.
Recently, the Chaoyang Court in Beijing started with a case triggered by a prank and explained the legal boundaries of life in detail.
Photo: Visual China
Case Focus
Case 1:
At about 20:00 on April 1, 2019, when Wu was on duty with his wife Xie, he wrote a handwritten "threatening letter", in which Wu pretended to be a soldier to extort money on the condition of the lives of the two sons of Zhong Mou, the director of the neurology department of the hospital, and the letter also asked Zhong not to call the police, and put 600,000 yuan in cash in cash next to a bus stop before 12:00 noon on April 3, 2019. Wu placed the letter under the computer keyboard in Zhong's office at about 11 o'clock on April 1. At about 9 o'clock on April 3, 2019, Wu went to the bus stop to wait for Zhong and stayed near the place until about 11 o'clock before leaving. At about 11:00 a.m., Zhong found the letter and called the police. On April 4, Wu heard his wife talk about Zhong being blackmailed by someone, that is, he admitted that the letter was written by him, and said that because it was April Fool's Day on April 1, he wanted to make a joke with Zhong, did not expect such serious consequences, and then surrendered to the public security organs.
Court Interpretation
Defendant Wu first wrote down a threatening letter posing as a soldier, threatening the life of the victim Zhong X's child, and extorting Zhong X's 600,000 yuan, and placed it on the victim's desk, and then went to the agreed place at the agreed time on the letter to see if Zhong was carrying money, and only after learning that the victim called the police did he admit that it was his doing, and his behavior was far beyond the scope of jokes, and Wu argued that he only wanted 30,000 yuan after the entire extortion and extortion act occurred, with the purpose of mitigating punishment. Defendant Wu, for the purpose of illegal possession, impersonated a soldier and used a method that threatened the lives of others to extort and extort other people's property, the amount of which was particularly huge, and his conduct constituted the crime of extortion.
For reasons other than his will, Wu did not obtain the victim's property, which is an attempted crime, and the punishment may be mitigated in accordance with law. After the case occurred, Wu voluntarily surrendered and truthfully confessed the facts of the crime, although he believed that his behavior did not constitute a crime because of his misunderstanding of the law, he should still be deemed to have surrendered voluntarily, and the punishment could be mitigated according to law.
In the end, the court convicted defendant Wu of extortion in accordance with the law, sentenced him to three years and six months in prison, and fined him 10,000 yuan.
Case 2:
One day, Wang received a call from his boyfriend's friend Lin Mou, saying that his boyfriend was seized by the police driving an unlicensed motorcycle, and also had a traffic accident due to panic and escape, and was in a coma in the hospital at this time. Hearing this news, I believe that the real Wang drove a motorcycle to the hospital, on the way, because the speed was too fast and the spirit was nervous, Wang's motorcycle lost control and crashed into the roadside billboard, resulting in serious damage to the motorcycle, Wang's right wrist fracture, right calf fracture. After investigation, lin's phone call claims were all made up by himself, and Wang's boyfriend did not have any accidents. After the incident, Wang took Lin to court on the grounds that his "car damage and injury" was caused by Lin's "excessive joke". After mediation by the court, Lin compensated Wang for a total of 20,000 yuan for car repair costs and medical expenses.
Jing Xiao hammer interpretation
According to the first paragraph of Article 1165 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, where the perpetrator infringes upon the civil rights and interests of others through fault and causes damage, he shall bear tort liability. There are four constituent elements of a general tortious act, namely, the illegality of the act, the existence of the damage facts, the causal relationship between the act and the damage facts, and the subjective fault of the perpetrator.
In the above case, Lin fabricated the fact that Wang's boyfriend was in a coma after an accident after driving an unlicensed motorcycle, which caused Wang to have a traffic accident in a panic, resulting in car damage and injury, and there was a causal relationship between Wang's injury and car damage and Lin's "deception" behavior, so Lin should bear the corresponding compensation liability. The case also reminds everyone that jokes should be moderate, and excessive jokes may harm others and harm themselves.
Court prompt
The jokes below can't be played!
1. Take the mobile phone and cash that others have placed on the store table, take it to the home to hide, and argue that it is a joke after being caught.
Article 39 of the Eighth Amendment to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that whoever steals public or private property in a relatively large amount, or who steals, steals from a home, steals with a murder weapon, or pickpocketing, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance, and shall also be fined or fined alone;
2. Humiliating others or fabricating facts by joking, causing damage to the reputation of others.
Article 42 of the Public Security Administration Punishment Law stipulates that whoever openly insults others or fabricates facts to slander others shall be detained for not more than five days or fined not more than 500 yuan;
Article 246 of the Criminal Code stipulates that whoever, by violence or other means, openly insults another person or fabricates facts to slander another person, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, public surveillance or deprivation of political rights.
3. Mischief, spread bombs at the airport before the flight takes off, causing chaos and delaying the flight.
Article 291 of the Criminal Law stipulates that whoever releases false explosive, poisonous, radioactive, infectious disease pathogens or other substances, or fabricates terrorist information such as explosive threats, biochemical threats, or radiation threats, or knowingly disseminates terrorist information knowingly and seriously disrupts social order, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years, criminal detention or public surveillance;
4, dial 110 to call the police to say that someone is fighting, the police found that the fake police.
Article 25 of the Public Security Administration Punishment Law stipulates that whoever spreads rumors, falsely reports dangerous situations, epidemic situations, police situations, or intentionally disrupts public order by other means shall be detained for not less than five days but not more than ten days, and may also be fined not more than 500 yuan; if the circumstances are less serious, he shall be detained for not more than five days or fined not more than 500 yuan.
5. Deliberately causing physical damage to others in the name of "mischief" and endangering the lives and health of others.
Article 234 of the Criminal Code stipulates that whoever intentionally injures another person's body shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance. Whoever commits the crime mentioned in the preceding paragraph and causes serious injury to a person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years; whoever causes death or causes serious injury by particularly cruel means and causes serious disability shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years, life imprisonment or death. Where this Law provides otherwise, follow those provisions.
Article 235 of the Criminal Code stipulates that a person who negligently injures another person causing serious injury shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention. Where this Law provides otherwise, follow those provisions.
Xiaoxiang Morning Post comprehensive Beijing-France network report
【Source: Xiaoxiang Morning News】
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