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The Defence of Superior Order: a comparison of the legal situation in Germany, the United States of America and South Africa

In most of the situations where is more than one person involved one person is superior to the other. The father is superior to his child, the employer is superior to the employees, the captain is superior to his team or the general is superior to his soldiers. If there is a task to be carried out,...

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Main Author: Ertner, Ralph M
Other Authors: Leeman, I
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Private Law 2021
Subjects:
Private Law
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access_status_str Open Access
author Ertner, Ralph M
author2 Leeman, I
author_browse Ertner, Ralph M
Leeman, I
author_facet Leeman, I
Ertner, Ralph M
author_sort Ertner, Ralph M
collection Thesis
description In most of the situations where is more than one person involved one person is superior to the other. The father is superior to his child, the employer is superior to the employees, the captain is superior to his team or the general is superior to his soldiers. If there is a task to be carried out, any person may carry this task out on grounds of free will. But if the person does not want to carry out this task, then the superior may order him to do so. But what happens if the task carried out after such an order been given proves to be wrong? What if it even fulfils the definition of the crime? The ordered person may be accused of committing a crime and then may say: "But I was ordered to do so. Blame my superior but not me!" This dissertation will deal with the legal background of this "defence" raised by the accused. It will compare the three different legal systems of Germany, the United States of America and South Africa to determine on which grounds a superior order given prior to the act can serve as a basis for a defence. The three legal systems, the history, the acceptance by the courts and all the prerequisites established in the course of decades of jurisprudence will be analysed in order to establish a scheme under which these countries deal with superior orders being involved prior to a crime or offence committed by the receiving inferior.
format Thesis
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:33:23.204Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2021
publishDateRange 2021
publishDateSort 2021
publisher Department of Private Law
publisherStr Department of Private Law
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/35339 The Defence of Superior Order: a comparison of the legal situation in Germany, the United States of America and South Africa Ertner, Ralph M Leeman, I Private Law In most of the situations where is more than one person involved one person is superior to the other. The father is superior to his child, the employer is superior to the employees, the captain is superior to his team or the general is superior to his soldiers. If there is a task to be carried out, any person may carry this task out on grounds of free will. But if the person does not want to carry out this task, then the superior may order him to do so. But what happens if the task carried out after such an order been given proves to be wrong? What if it even fulfils the definition of the crime? The ordered person may be accused of committing a crime and then may say: "But I was ordered to do so. Blame my superior but not me!" This dissertation will deal with the legal background of this "defence" raised by the accused. It will compare the three different legal systems of Germany, the United States of America and South Africa to determine on which grounds a superior order given prior to the act can serve as a basis for a defence. The three legal systems, the history, the acceptance by the courts and all the prerequisites established in the course of decades of jurisprudence will be analysed in order to establish a scheme under which these countries deal with superior orders being involved prior to a crime or offence committed by the receiving inferior. 2021-11-22T10:31:10Z 2021-11-22T10:31:10Z 1998 2021-11-18T09:21:30Z Master Thesis Masters LLM http://hdl.handle.net/11427/35339 eng application/pdf Department of Private Law Faculty of Law
spellingShingle Private Law
Ertner, Ralph M
The Defence of Superior Order: a comparison of the legal situation in Germany, the United States of America and South Africa
thesis_degree_str Master's
title The Defence of Superior Order: a comparison of the legal situation in Germany, the United States of America and South Africa
title_full The Defence of Superior Order: a comparison of the legal situation in Germany, the United States of America and South Africa
title_fullStr The Defence of Superior Order: a comparison of the legal situation in Germany, the United States of America and South Africa
title_full_unstemmed The Defence of Superior Order: a comparison of the legal situation in Germany, the United States of America and South Africa
title_short The Defence of Superior Order: a comparison of the legal situation in Germany, the United States of America and South Africa
title_sort defence of superior order a comparison of the legal situation in germany the united states of america and south africa
topic Private Law
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/35339
work_keys_str_mv AT ertnerralphm thedefenceofsuperiororderacomparisonofthelegalsituationingermanytheunitedstatesofamericaandsouthafrica
AT ertnerralphm defenceofsuperiororderacomparisonofthelegalsituationingermanytheunitedstatesofamericaandsouthafrica

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