Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T21:16:57.456Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - Legality in Criminal Law, Its Purposes, and Its Competitors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2009

Kenneth S. Gallant
Affiliation:
University of Arkansas
Get access

Summary

The creation of international criminal law, especially in international criminal tribunals, frequently raises questions concerning “the principle of legality of crimes and punishments (le principe de légalité des délits et des peines).” Many rules have made up the principle of legality in criminal law, although not all of them apply in all societies that accept the principle:

  1. No act that was not criminal under a law applicable to the actor (pursuant to a previously promulgated statute) at the time of the act may be punished as a crime.

  2. No act may be punished by a penalty that was not authorized by a law applicable to the actor (pursuant to a previously promulgated statute) at the time of the act.

  3. No act may be punished by a court whose jurisdiction was not established at the time of the act.

  4. No act may be punished on the basis of lesser or different evidence from that which could have been used at the time of the act.

  5. No act may be punished except by a law that is sufficiently clear to provide notice that the act was prohibited at the time it was committed.

  6. Interpretation and application of the law should be done on the basis of consistent principles.

  7. Punishment is personal to the wrongdoer. Collective punishments may not be imposed for individual crime.

  8. Everything not prohibited by law is permitted.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

,Henri Felix August Donnedieu de Vabres, Le procès de Nuremberg devant les principes modernes du droit pénal international, in 70 Recueil des Cours de l'Académie de Droit International 477, 501, passim (1947).Google Scholar
Fletcher, George P., 1 The Grammar of Criminal Law: American, Comparative, and International (Foundations) 81 (Oxford Univ. Press 2007)Google Scholar
Hall, Jerome, Nulla Poena Sine Lege, 47 Yale L.J. 165 (1938)Google Scholar
Cassese, Antonio, International Criminal Law 141 (Oxford Univ. Press 2003)Google Scholar
Bantekas, Ilias & Nash, Susan, International Criminal Law127–28 (2d ed., Cavendish Publishing Ltd 2003).Google Scholar
,Paul Johann Anselm Ritter von Feuerbach, Lehrbuch des gemeinen in Deutschland geltenden Peinlichen Rechts24, p. 20 (Georg Friedrich Heyer 1801), discussed in Hall, at 169–70.Google Scholar
Blackstone, William, Commentaries on the Laws of England *46 (Univ. of Chicago Press 1979) (1765)Google Scholar
Glaser, Stefan, La méthode d'interpretation en droit international pénal, 9 Revista Italiana di Diritto e Procedura Penale Nuova Serie 757, 766 (1966)Google Scholar
Bassiouni, M. Cherif, Crimes against Humanity in International Criminal Law 144, 162 (2d ed., Transnational Publishers, 1999)Google Scholar
Ferdinandusse, Ward N., Direct Application of International Criminal Law in National Courts232–36 (TMC Asser Press 2006)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knoops, Geert-Jan, Defenses in Contemporary International Criminal Law156–57 (Transnational Publishers 2001).Google Scholar
Sampford, Charles, Retrospectivity and the Rule of Law (Oxford Univ. Press 2006)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tamanaha, Brian C., On the Rule of Law: History, Politics, Theory97–98, 139 (Cambridge Univ. Press 2004)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
al-’Awwa, Muhammad Salim, The Basis of Islamic Penal Legislation, inThe Islamic Criminal Justice System 127, 135, 139–40 (Bassiouni, M. Cherif ed., Oceana Publications 1982)Google Scholar
Raz, Joseph, The Rule of Law and Its Virtue, 93 L.Q. Rev. 195 (1977)Google Scholar
Fuller, Lon L., The Morality of Law (rev. ed., Yale Univ. Press 1969)Google Scholar
Hayek, Friedrich A., The Road to Serfdom 72 (Univ. of Chicago Press 1975) (1944).Google Scholar
Walker, Geoffrey de Q., The Rule of Law: Foundation of Constitutional Democracy 322 (Melbourne Univ. Press 1988)Google Scholar
Locke, John, Second Treatise of Government §§ 136-37, 147, inTwo Treatises of Government270–73, 279–80 (Classics of Liberty Library 1992) (1689–90).Google Scholar
Story, Joseph, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States § 1345, p. 199 (Lawbook Exchange 2005) (2d ed., Little, Charles C. and Brown, James 1851)Google Scholar
Rawls, John, Justice as Fairness 238 (Belknap Press/Harvard Univ. Press 1971).Google Scholar
Bassiouni, M. Cherif, Quesas Crimes, inBassiouni, supra note 15, at 203, 207–09.
Fletcher, George P., Collective Guilt and Collective Punishment, 5 Theoretical Inquiries in Law163 (2004)Google Scholar
Drumbl, Mark A., Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law35–6 (Cambridge Univ. Press 2007).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hart, H. L. A., The Concept of Law79–99 (2d ed., Clarendon Press 1994) (1st ed., 1961)Google Scholar
Zappalà, Salvatore, Human Rights in International Criminal Proceedings 195 (Oxford Univ. Press 2003).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beccaria, Cesare, On Crimes and Punishments (Dei Delitti e delle Pene)13-7 (Paolucci, Henry tr., MacMillan 1963) (1764) (especially Chaps. 3–4)Google Scholar
The Tokyo Major War Crimes Trial: The Judgment, Separate Opinions, Proceedings in Chambers, Appeals and Reviews of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (Pritchard, John R. ed.; Robert M. W. Kemper Collegium and Edwin Mellen Press 1998) (1948) (protection from arbitrariness of both legislatures and courts; asserts that this is a matter of policy, not justice)
Kelsen, Hans, Will the Judgment in the Nuremberg Trial Constitute a Precedent in International Law?, 1 Int'l L.Q. 153, 164–65 (1947)Google Scholar
Henckaerts, Jean-Marie & Doswald-Beck, Louise, Customary International Humanitarian Law (Practice)3714, p. 2500 (Cambridge Univ. Press 2005) (study published by the International Committee of the Red Cross).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broomhall, Bruce, Article 22: Nullum crimen sine lege, inCommentary on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: Observers' Notes, Article by Article ¶ 9, pp. 447, 450 (Triffterer, Otto, ed., Nomos-Verlagsgesellschaft, 1999) (hereinafter Observers' Notes).Google Scholar
Jeffries, Jr. John Calvin, Legality, Vagueness, and the Construction of Penal Statutes, 71 Va. L. Rev. 189, 205–10 (1985)Google Scholar
Ashworth, Andrew, Principles of Criminal Law69–70 (5th ed., Oxford Univ. Press 2006).Google Scholar
Raab, Dominic & Bevers, Hans, The International Criminal Court and the Separation of Powers, 3 Int'l Orgs. L. Rev. 93 (2006).Google Scholar
Boot, Machteld, Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, War Crimes: Nullum Crimen Sine Lege and the Subject Matter Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court ¶ 80, p. 95 (Intersentia 2002)Google Scholar
Krey, Volker, Studien zum Gesetzesvorbehalt im Strafrecht: Eine Einführung in die Problematik des Analogieverbots 211 (Duncker & Humblot 1977).Google Scholar
Rubin, Alfred P., The Law of Piracy 343 (Naval War College Press 1988)Google Scholar
Robinson, Paul H., Fair Notice and Fair Adjudication: Two Kinds of Legality, 154 U. Pa. L. Rev. 335, 337–45 (2005)Google Scholar
Dacey, Raymond & Gallant, Kenneth S., Crime Control and the Harassment of the Innocent, 25 J. of Crim. Justice325 (1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tyler, Tom R., Why People Obey the Law (2d ed., Princeton Univ. Press, 2006)Google Scholar
Berman, Harold J., Soviet Criminal Law and Procedure: The RSFSR Codes 25 (Harvard Univ. Press 1966) (all translations from this book are by , Berman & Spindler, James W.)Google Scholar
Hazard, John N. & Shapiro, Isaac, The Soviet Legal System: Post-Stalin Documentation and Historical Commentary 4 n. 3 (Oceana Publishers for Parker School of Foreign & Comparative Law 1962)Google Scholar
Drumbl, Mark A., Punishment, Postgenocide: From Guilt to Shame to Civis in Rwanda, 75 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 1221 (2000).Google Scholar
Gu, Sharron, The Boundaries of Meaning and the Formation of Law: Legal Concepts and Reasoning in the English, Arabic, and Chinese Traditions (McGill-Queen's Univ. Press 2006).Google Scholar
Kramer, Matthew H., Objectivity and the Rule of Law 120 (Cambridge Univ. Press 2007).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, A. H., Fascism and Legality, 62 L.Q. Rev. 141, 150–51 (1946).Google Scholar
Mettraux, Guénaël, International Crimes and the ad hoc Tribunals356–57 (Oxford Univ. Press 2005)Google Scholar
Rottleuthner, Hubert & Mahlmann, Matthias, Models of Transition: Old Theories and Recent Developments, inRethinking the Rule of Law after Communism191 (Czarnota, Adam, Krygier, Martin & Sadurski, Wojciech, eds., Central European Univ. Press 2005).Google Scholar
Lansing, Robert & Scott, James Brown, Memorandum of Reservations Presented by the Representatives of the United States to the Report of the Commission on Responsibilities (April 4, 1919), Annex II to Commission on the Responsibility of the Authors of the War and on Enforcement of Penalties, Report Presented to the Preliminary Peace Conference (Versailles, March 29, 1919), in 1 The Law of War: A Documentary History 842, 860, 865 (Friedman, Leon, ed., Random House 1972).Google Scholar
Reydams, Luc, Universal Jurisdiction: International and Municipal Legal Perspectives 5 n. 31 (Oxford Univ. Press 2003) (collecting sources).Google Scholar
Posner, Richard, Law and Literature 52 (rev. ed., Harvard Univ. Press, 1998)Google Scholar
Achebe, Chinua, Things Fall Apart (Astor-Honor 1959)Google Scholar
Dadrian, Vahakn N., A Typology of Genocide, 5 International Review of Modern Sociology201 (1975).Google Scholar
Schmidt, Carl, Legality and Legitimacy3–4 [*7–8] (Seitzer, Jeffrey trans. & ed., McCormick, John P. intro., Duke Univ. Press 2004) (1932; republished with an Afterword by Schmidt in 1958) (page citations to 2004 edition, followed by that edition's reference to the 1932 German edition, starred in brackets)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, Carl, On the Three Types of Juristic Thought 93 (Bendersky, Joseph W. trans., Praeger 2004) (1934).Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×