Classification of timber and wood theft as one of the forms of forest damage

Due to the need to ensure protection of the forest environment against so−called forestry damage, the Polish legislator introduced a number of legal solutions (both in the field of criminal law and the law of misdemeanors), aimed at eliminating human behaviors that harm the forest as a priceless good. Despite the multiplicity of legal regulations, in practice there are situations of improper use (i.e. incorrect legal classification of an act), which in turn translates into the level of forest legal protection as property of special value. The paper analyses criminal law (sensu largo) in terms of penalizing behaviors that are a manifestation of forest damage, but also indicates their correct application in the situation of for example felling and then theft of wood or theft of wood itself. It should be pointed out that the current provisions on the protection of forest property, contained in the Penal Code (PC) of 1997, as well as the Code of Misdemeanors (CM) of 1971, differ significantly (while for the legal qualification: felling and then the theft of trees on the basis of PC should reach for the disposition of the provision of Article 290 of the PC in conjunction with Article 278 PC, then under the CM, only the provision of Article 120 of the PC). The non−uniformity of penal provisions and provisions regulating liability in the event of an offense aimed at ensuring the protection of forest property against forest damage creates a necessity to clarify them, but also to indicate an appropriate model for the classification of acts subject to their instruction