The crime of real estate property infringement between the legislative text and jurisprudence (case-law).

Abstract

Article 386 of the Algerian Penal Code deals with the crime of real estate property infringement. Along with the general elements of the crime, this legal text stipulates two other crucial elements; surreptitiousness and fraud (deception). However, due to the lack of clarity of the meaning of these two elements, the jurisprudence in the form of many judicial decisions (case-law) had to intervene but could not settle on a single approach in its interpretation of these two elusive elements. Therefore, this paper attempts to shed light on the distinctive elements of the crime of real estate property infringement, according to the legislative text (Article 386 of the Penal Code) as well as the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court.