The Frame of Preparation Defence
Preparation for a crime is an exceptional institute in criminal law: as a general rule it is not punishable. Article 18 of the Code defines: preparation means the deliberate creation of conditions for the commission of a crime; and liability is established only for the preparation of grave and especially grave crimes, and of several compositions separately enumerated by the law. This means that the first defence question is not "what did the person do" but "preparation of which crime is alleged". A boundary is noted as well: the common-law independent liability of conspiracy, without commission of the target offence, does not exist in Georgian law — the criminality of preparatory conduct is exceptional and article-limited. From this limitation the first defence argument is born: where the alleged composition belongs neither to the grave and especially grave category nor to the separate list, a preparation charge cannot stand at all — factual circumstances cannot alter that conclusion.