Да ли се дивљач може сматрати опасном ствари?
Can Game Animal Be Deemed Dangerous Thing?

Author(s): Stanka Stjepanović, Draženka Kudra
Subject(s): Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence
Published by: Правни факултет Универзитета у Источном Сарајеву
Keywords: Strict liability; Damage; Game animal; Road; Collision; Car;
Summary/Abstract: In most court rulings the users of the hunting ground were found liable for the damage caused by the collision of a car with game animal wandering on the road. In its rulings, the courts usually refer to the Article 173 of the Law on Obligations, claiming that game animal is a dangerous thing and that it, therefore, falls into the scope of strict liability of hunting ground users. Counterclaims of hunting associations for compensation for damage due to the death of game animal hit by a car are, as a rule, rejected, referring to Article 61 of the Law on Hunting of Republic of Srpska, which stipulates that the user of the hunting ground can be compensated only in case a game animal has been illegally killed.According to the Rule book on Compensation for Damage Caused to the User of the Hunting Ground by Illegal Hunting, for game animal injured or killed in traffic, the compensation is paid by a traffic participant who, by violating traffic regulations, caused a traffic accident through his own fault. The authors, by way of analyzing the first-instance and second-instance decisions, raise the question of viability of the standpoint established by the case law that wildlife on the road is a dangerous thing. They offer an answer to the basic question of whether game animal can be deemed a thing at all (and thus, it is also disputable whether it is a dangerous thing). The paper points out that such a standpoint taken by the caselaw has damaged hunting associations greatly, and thus has contributed to the reduction of the funds for basic investments in the development and care,for protected game animals and other types alike. An amendment to the Law on Hunting is proposed, which would explicitly regulate the liability for compensation for damage caused in traffic accidents involving cars and wildlife. The provisions of the most recent amendments to the Romanian Hunting Law are also being analyzed, and it is proposed that some of these solutions be adopted in the legislation of the Republic of Srpska. The authors recommend that these norms be a lex specialis in relation to the provisions of Article 173 of the Law on Obligations which would be suspended in case of establishing liability for damage resulting from a car and wildlife collision.

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