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Abstract

Although the new Criminal Code made a series of amendments to the criminal legislation, the regulation of the principle of legality of criminalisation has not been significantly changed, but only from the point of view of the structure of governing rules.

Thus, while the previous Criminal Code regulated through a single provision both the legality of criminalisation and the legality of criminal penalties, the new Criminal Code has split the content of the principle of legality of criminalisation and criminal penalties into two principles - the legality of criminalisation and the legality of criminal penalties, by allocating them two separate articles in Chapter I of Title I of the General Part.

In this article, we aim to examine the theoretical side of the substance of the principle of legality of criminalisation and to analyse some of the most important legal issues concerning the application of this principle in the case-law.

Keywords: Legality, legality of criminalisation, foreseeability of criminal law, retrospective effect of criminal law, continuing effect, application of the more favourable criminal law.

1. Introduction

In a democratic regime based on the rule of law, the state's right to punish (jus puniendi) is restricted, therefore the latter must punish only those acts which constituted criminal offences at the time when they were committed and impose solely the penalties existing in the system of penalties at the time when the criminal offence was committed, except when a more lenient criminal law enters into force before the criminal relationship of conflict ceases. Although the principle of legality is a basic rule of the entire legal system, it is also a fundamental principle of criminal law and should be dealt with in a special manner, because the legality in the field of criminal law has a particular nature, has some distinctive features. The specific features of legality in the field of criminal law are given by two components: the legality of the regulation of the act which constitutes a criminal offence and the legality of penalties. The principle of legality is expressed in the well-known adages: nullum crimen sine lege şi nulla poena (sanctio) sine lege.

In this article, we aim to examine the theoretical side of the substance of the principle of legality of criminalisation...

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