Notwehr und überindividuelle Schutzgüter

Self-defence is directed against the attacker – but what applies when defensive action simultaneously affects legal interests of the public at large? Philipp Alexander Burek explores a largely neglected borderline area of criminal law scholarship and recalibrates the law of self-defence where criminal offences protect multiple legal interests.

Philipp Alexander Burek examines the doctrinal scope of self-defence where defensive conduct affects not only the individual legal interests of the attacker but also collective interests protected by law. Such collateral damage resulting from self-defence marks a borderline area between self-defence and necessity that has so far remained insufficiently explored. The prevailing dichotomy, according to which self-defence either applies without limitation or must give way entirely, is criticised as inadequate. The central thesis is that self-defence derives its justificatory force solely in relation to the attacker. Interferences with supra-individual legal interests therefore constitute persisting wrongdoing. On this basis, the author develops the concept of a partial justification in self-defence. Methodologically, the study combines doctrinal analysis with historical and teleological interpretation, rejects both the doctrine of the third-party effect of self-defence and recourse to section 34 of the German Criminal Code, and advances a differentiated solution for composite offences under current German criminal law.

Hinführung zum Gegenstand der Untersuchung
I. Einführende Gedanken zum Notwehrkonflikt
II. Notwehr und Begleitschäden an Individualrechtsgütern
III. Überindividuelle Begleitschäden und „ein gravierendes, bislang völlig übergangenes Problem"
IV. BGH NJW 2013, 2133 als instruktives Fallbeispiel
V. Untersuchungsgegenstand und grobe Bestandsaufnahme
VI. Zielsetzung und Gang der Untersuchung
Erstes Kapitel: Grundlegendes
I. Grundzüge der Rechtfertigungsdogmatik
II. Zur Rechtfertigungswirkung der Notwehr
Zweites Kapitel: Notwehr und Straftatbestände, die sowohl individuelle als auch Rechtsgüter der Allgemeinheit schützen
I. Ausgangspunkt und Referenzfall
II. Die „Lehre von der Drittwirkung der Notwehr"
III. Der rechtfertigende Notstand nach § 34 StGB
IV. Der Gedanke einer notwehrrechtlichen „Teilrechtfertigung"
Drittes Kapitel: Vertiefungen zur notwehrrechtlichen Teilrechtfertigung
I. Delikte, die einer Teilrechtfertigung prinzipiell zugänglich erscheinen
II. Einige Folgefragen
Ergebnisse der Untersuchung

Born 1992; studied law at the University of Bochum; First State Examination in Law (2023); Research Associate at the Chair of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure, Business Criminal Law, and International Criminal Law at Ruhr University Bochum; PhD awarded in 2025.

• By (author) Philipp Alexander Burek