Article 455 Spanish Criminal Code: Taking the Law into One’s Own Hands

Article 455 of the Spanish Criminal Code punishes with a fine of six to twelve months the person who, in order to enforce a right of his own, acting outside the legal channels, uses violence, intimidation or force against property. The penalty rises by one degree where weapons or dangerous objects are used for the intimidation or violence. The article is what governs the creditor who seizes goods to secure a debt, the landlord who changes the locks and removes a tenant’s belongings, and the owner who recovers a vehicle by force.

Wording of Article 455 of the Spanish Criminal Code

Elements of the offence

1. A right belonging to the accused. The right need not be undisputed, but it must be real: a person who acts to enforce a claim he knows to be unfounded is outside this article and within the ordinary offences.
2. Action outside the legal channels, that is without resorting to the courts or to the procedure the law provides.
3. Violence, intimidation, or force against property. Persuasion, insistence and self-help without force are not punishable under this article.
4. That the purpose was the enforcement of the right and not the infliction of harm, since the article rests on that motivation.

Defence strategy

Using the article as a reclassification. The principal use of this provision is defensive. A landlord who entered a property to recover unpaid rent, a creditor who took goods of equivalent value and an owner who recovered his own vehicle are habitually charged with coercion, robbery or unlawful entry. Establishing that the accused was enforcing a real right, and that the conduct went no further than that purpose, brings the case within this article and reduces the exposure from imprisonment to a fine.

Establishing the existence of the right. The argument depends on documenting the right: the tenancy and the rent arrears, the invoice and the acknowledgement of the debt, the registration document of the vehicle, the judgment or the settlement. Where the right is disputed, what matters is that the accused had objective grounds to believe it existed, which is why the correspondence preceding the incident is produced in full.

Absence of violence or force. Where the accused entered with a key he lawfully held, recovered property that was voluntarily handed over, or acted without any force against persons or things, no offence under this article is committed either. Changing a lock on premises of which the accused holds possession, and retaining goods already in his possession, are not force in the statutory sense.

Excluding weapons and dangerous objects. The second paragraph raises the penalty by one degree, and it is habitually asserted where a tool or an implement was present at the scene without being used. The defence establishes what was actually used for the intimidation, since the mere presence of an object among the accused’s working tools does not engage the aggravation.

• Article 172: coercion
• Article 202: unlawful entry into a dwelling
• Spanish Criminal Code by article
• Spanish-language entry

This entry is provided for information only and does not constitute legal advice. The application of any provision depends on the circumstances of the individual case and requires examination of the case file by a qualified lawyer.