Commentary to the Article by Ramón Ragués

Abstract

The stimulating article by Ragués advocates the recognition of the new legal concept of deliberate ignorance, whose treatment should be identical to that given to fraud. The main purpose of my reflections will be to defend this concept. I intend to show that, in many of the cases in which it has been recognised by Spanish jurisprudence, the concept is dispensable, because in reality, we should speak of malice aforethought. The cases that Ragués has in mind, however, are those in which the content of the figure exceeds that of malice aforethought ("deliberate ignorance in the strict sense"); here, however, it seems to me to be unacceptable. Finally, as an additional consideration, of less scientific importance but of great practical importance, I have serious doubts as to the adequacy of the figure with Argentine or Spanish positive law.