The crime of recklessness in the historical Spanish Jurisprudence (1870-1995)

Abstract

Until 1995 reform, most of the historical Spanish penal Codes (Codes of 1848, 1870, 1932, 1944 and 1973) classified the reckless imprudence as a particular crime in their special parts, not in their general parts about criminal responsibility, and they established a wide-open method allowing recklessness resulting in many types of crimes. Thus, the particular application of this crime was left to jurisprudence, or “the prudent discretion” of Courts in words of the legal provisions. This work aims to approach the jurisprudence issued between 1870 and 1995 for the determination of reckless imprudence offenses, its classes and its requirements.