The Bases and Legal Effects of Using the Defensive Devices in the Institution of Legitimate Defense

Legitimate defense is cited as a justificatory condition if the existence of multiple conditions can be ascertained, including imminence of attack as well as the necessity and proportionality of the defensive action, thus permitting the apparently criminal behavior. However, individuals in certain cases might resort to specific defensive instruments and tools, i.e. the human traps, such as booby traps, digging wells inside their houses, or keeping guard dogs, in an effort to defend their rights against possible aggressions. As a result of using such devices, the persons venturing into such places might be harmed or injured. The legitimacy of such actions per se as well as the responsibility of the injuries they might cause requires legal scrutiny. In the present article, we investigated this subject with due regard to the relevant statutes as well as Jurisprudential bases and concluded that deploying such devices by the defender in the land which has right of possession is per se not legally prohibited, provided that such devices are not outside what is regarded as customary. However, the perpetrator shall be responsible for any injuries and damages resulting from using such devices unless it can be proved (through establishing the relevant conditions such as necessity of the action) that such injuries and damages were inflicted in self defense. In this regard, a comparative study with other legal systems was also conducted.