Amnesty and Clemency.

constitutional and criminal elements. The author chronologically presents a historical overview of the legal system from the old century to the present legal systems. A particular attention is paid to the legal nature of the very institutes, the effects of the institutes, as well as their decision-makers. In the comparative overview, the author looks at the constitutional system of the United States and France. Finally, the paper discusses the related institutes in the constitutional system of the Republic of Serbia, concluding that they belong to the extra-judicial system of government and a kind of "surgical operation" of the legislative and executive authority in court "tissue". The author also states certain omissions in the matter regulating the institute of clemency, such as the complete absence of explanation of the act of clemency by the competent bodies and the lack of any kind of substantive legal control of that body, which implies the possibility of abuse of the institute. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]