CONTEMPORARY ASPECTS OF CIVIL SANCTIONS

Abstract

The origin and development of the institute of civil sanctions as a means of coercion aimed at preserving social values, existing order, and providing additional security to legal relationships date back to customary law, through Roman law, and up to the present day, it has gone through various phases in which its significance and purpose have changed. Theoretical and practical needs for clear conceptual definition of civil sanctions and the gaps existing in modern law are sufficient incentive for any attempt to make changes in this area. Today, civil sanctions are enforced as a form of legally organized coercion carried out against a responsible party in order to bring personal non-property goods and the property of another party into a state where they would most likely be found if they were not threatened and/or harmed. The purpose of civil sanctions differs from the purpose of sanctions in other areas of law. When it is of the same content, a sanction is not a punishment because its purpose is not to penalize the individual against whom it is applied for committing an unauthorized act, but rather to restore the rights of the holder that have been endangered, violated, or harmed. In other words, the goal is to bring personal non-property goods and property back to the state they would most likely be in if certain circumstances had not occurred. However, the question arises as to whether restitution, as a civil sanction, always represents the most equitable solution, especially in situations where public order, mandatory regulations, or good customs are violated.