On The Criminal Object Of The Crime Of Illegally Purchasing,Transporting And Selling Precious And Endangered Wild Animal Products

Wild animal resources play a critical role in maintaining ecological balance.In particular,owing to their scarcity and non-renewability,the precious and endangered wild animal resources under national key protection deserve more attention.To step up the level of protection on precious and endangered wild animal resources,and reduce loss of resources,Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China includes the crime of illegally purchasing,transporting and selling precious and endangered wild animal products and standardizes people's behaviors with criminal punishment.However,current laws and regulations have not specified the definition of precious and endangered wild animal products.Consequently,owing to obscure definition of crime objects in judicial practice,similar cases may be judged in different ways,seriously violating the principle of fairness of law.The objective of the thesis is to fill the loopholes of legal interpretation through clarifying the definition and scope of precious and endangered wild animal products,thereby providing reference for the settlement of judicial disputes.This thesis falls into four parts.Part One starts from the definition of the crime of illegally purchasing,transporting and selling precious and endangered wild animal products and its crime objects,delves into the possible meanings of precious and endangered wild animal products from the two aspects of legal interpretation methods and legislation evolution,paving the way for subsequent theoretical research.Part Two introduces the significance of criminal protection of precious and endangered wild animal products.Starting from the two perspectives of concept on interests protected by law,necessity,the thesis proves that criminal protection of precious and endangered wild animal products is the inevitable requirement of the protection of wild animal resources.Meanwhile,with the help of the explanation function of interests protected by law,the thesis arrives at the following conclusion: Only products with the attributes of precious and endangered wild animal resources are objects under protection by the criminal law.Part Three lists out four controversies generated onprecious and endangered wild animal products in judicial practice,studies the controversial issues,and figures out the following reasons for such controversies through analysis: different concepts on interests protected by the law,absence of legal explanation,and inadequate law popularization.Part Four proposes improvement suggestions on the four controversies respectively.Meanwhile,the author calls on state legislature to formulate legal explanations at an early date to perfect legislation in China and prevent the further expansion of controversies.The author also calls on judicial authorities to proceed from the purpose of criminal legislation when judging relevant cases and emphasize the role of the legitimacy of precious and endangered wild animal products in acquitting criminals,thus enhancing judicial credibility.