Article 150 of the Criminal Code

What Article 150 of the Criminal Code punishes

Article 150 defines an aggravated form of bodily harm: causing another person the loss or disablement of a non-principal organ or limb, or a disfigurement. It sits at an intermediate level of seriousness between the basic injuries offence in Article 147 and the aggravated form in Article 149, which punishes the same outcomes where they affect a principal organ or limb, a sense, or cause impotence, sterility, a serious disfigurement, or a serious physical or mental illness.

Whether an organ or limb counts as principal or not, and whether a disfigurement is serious or not, is not fixed by a closed list in the Code itself: these are normative concepts that the courts apply case by case, weighing the function performed by the affected organ or limb (a finger compared with an entire hand, for example) and the visibility, permanence and aesthetic or functional impact of the disfigurement.

Penalty

The penalty is three to six years' imprisonment, noticeably higher than under Article 147.1 (three months to three years' imprisonment, or a fine of six to twelve months) and lower than under Article 149 (six to twelve years' imprisonment) for the more serious outcomes.

The boundary with Articles 147 and 149

Classifying a particular injury within this three-tier scheme almost always turns on forensic medical evidence: the expert report on the after-effects, whether they are permanent or reversible, and their functional and aesthetic impact are decisive for placing the outcome under Article 147, 150 or 149. It is common, for example, to dispute whether losing a finger amounts to losing a non-principal limb (Article 150) or, given its functional impact on a particular occupation, should be assessed as more serious; or whether a visible scar reaches the disfigurement threshold of Article 150 as opposed to the serious disfigurement of Article 149.

Defence strategy

The defence in these cases turns above all on the medical expert evidence: challenging whether the injury really fits the category of a non-principal organ or limb, or whether the disfigurement reached is serious enough for the offence, can shift the classification to Article 147 with a much lower penalty. It is also relevant to establish whether the outcome was or was not foreseeable for the offender given the means used, which can open the door to negligence rather than intent, and to check whether there was a mutually accepted brawl that might affect each participant's individual liability.