The concept of official and authority for criminal purposes

This work studies the concepts of public civil servant and authority, from the point of view of Criminal Law, referred to in Article 24 of Spain's current Penal Code. First, a detailed analysis is made of both the doctrinal and case law interpretation of the concept of civil servant in Criminal Law, which does not coincide with that existing in Administrative Law. Then, the notion of authority is studied, emphasizing its most important characteristics, paying special attention to the figure of the 'agent of authority', as it appears in some crimes from the special part of the Penal Code and which are not legally defined, unlike those of 'authority' and 'public civil servant'.