A Modern Treatise on the Principle of Legality in Criminal Law

Thepresentbookisbasedonthelecturesdeliveredbytheauthorinthepastfew yearsaspartoftheCriminalLawcourseoftheFacultyofLawattheOnoAcademic College. There has been little research on the principle of legality in modern criminallawalthoughthisisoneofthemostancientlegalprinciplesofhuman society. In recent generations there have been several attempts to de?ne the principleconclusivelybutonlywithregardtosomeofitsaspects. Nocompreh- sivede?nitionoftheprincipleoflegalityhasbeenattemptedtodate. Aconclusivede?nitionoftheprincipleoflegalityincriminallawrequiresboth anaccurateinward-lookingde?nitionoftheprincipleitselfandanoutward-lo- ingtreatmentofitsrelationwithcriminallawtheory. Onlyacoherenttheorythat includestheprincipleoflegalityasanintegralpartofcriminallawtheorycando justicetotheprincipleoflegality. Thisviewisconsistentwiththescienti?cconcept oflawwhichregardsthelawaspartofscience. AModernTreatiseonthePrincipleofLegalityinCriminalLawisthereforea scienti?ctreatiseononeofthefourprinciplesofthecriminallaw. Thepresent treatiseisdividedintosixpartsaccordingtothescienti?cunderstandingofthe principleoflegalityincriminallaw. Chapter1explorestherelationbetweenthe principleoflegalityandthegeneraltheoryofcriminallawinthecontextofthe structureandthedevelopmentoftheprincipleoflegalityinhumansociety. This chapter outlines the four secondary principles of the principle of legality and describesthemingeneralterms. Chapters 2-5 discuss in detail each of the four secondary principles of the principleoflegality. Chapter 2discussesthelegitimatesourcesofthecriminal normChap. 3discussestheapplicabilityofthecriminalnormintimeChap. 4 discussestheapplicabilityofthecriminalnorminplaceandChap. 5discussesthe interpretationofthecriminalnorm. Eachofthefourchaptersconcludeswitha discussionofthecon?ictoflawsissuesrelevanttothesecondaryprincipleunder investigation. FinallyChap. 6addressestheproblemofthecon?ictoflawswithin thecon?ictsoflawsandroundsoutthediscussion. ix x Preface IwishtothankOnoAcademicCollegeforsupportingthisprojectandespecially DeanofthefacultyoflawandvicechairmanDudiSchwartzforhisstaunchsupport onsomanyimportantoccasions. IthankGabrielLanyiforhiscommentsandAnke SeyfriedofSpringerHeidelbergforguidingthepublicationofthebookfromits inceptiontoitsconclusion. FinallyIwishtothankmywifeanddaughtersforthe helpfuldiscussionsandsupporttheyofferedalongtheway. KiryatOnoJune2010 GabrielHallevy Contents 1 TheMeaningandStructureofthePrincipleofLegality inCriminalLaw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1. 1 TheRoleofthePrincipleofLegalityintheCriminal LawTheory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1. 1. 1 TheBasicStructureofCriminalLawTheory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1. 1. 2 TheBasicStructureofthePrincipleofLegality inCriminalLaw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1. 2 DevelopmentofthePrincipleofLegalityinCriminalLaw andItsModernJusti?cations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2 TheLegitimateSourcesoftheCriminalNorm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 2. 1 TheStructureoftheCriminalNormandItsIdenti?cation . . . . . . . . . . 16 2. 1. 1 ValidConditionalClauses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 2. 1. 2 CriminalSanction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .