Principle of legality in European criminal law / Christina Peristeridou.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Peristeridou, Christina, 1984- author.

Series:

School of Human Rights Research series ; v. 75.

School of Human Rights Research series ; volume 75

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Criminal law--Europe--Philosophy.

Criminal law.

Philosophy.

Europe.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 359 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Intersentia, 2015.

System Details:

text file

PDF

Summary:

Acquiring competences for the creation of criminal offences begs the question of legitimacy. The European criminal justice system already has such competences and many instruments define criminal offences. The legality principle is a cornerstone doctrine for legitimising criminal norms in Western legal systems. Despite already being part of the European legal order, this principle lacks a coherent theoretical and normative blueprint that shows how it should be conceived in European criminal law. This book develops such a theory for the principle of legality in European criminal law. The focus is on the legitimising and normative functions of this principle. The reader shall find a proposal for a theoretical framework that legitimises European criminal law and the accompanying normative requirements of criminal liability. Questions such as the precision of European and national implementing norms, the position of case law as a source of law and the scope of interpretative powers of European and national courts are addressed. The book uses comparative research into national systems and modern theories of criminal law to build a framework for the principle of legality. This is then instilled with special characteristics of the European legal order, such as the multi-level system of authorities and sources, pluralism and freedom of movement.

Contents:

Part 1 Setting the Scene

Chapter I Introduction 3

1 The principle of legality and the criminal law 3

2 A European ius puniendi 7

3 The need for a European legality principle 9

3.1 The legitimacy of the European ius puniendi 9

3.2 An autonomous European legality or national concepts? 11

4 Research questions 13

4.1 General research question 13

4.2 Limitations of the research 15

4.3 Outline 16

4.3.1 The application of the principle in national law 16

4.3.2 A European legality principle 19

Chapter II Methodology 21

1 Legal transplants, cross-fertilisation and Europeanisation of legal doctrines 22

2 National legal research: the national nucleus of the legality principle 23

3 European research: fragments of the principle of legality 27

4 Internal adaptation: parameters 28

5 Conclusion 30

Part 2 The Legality Principle in National Criminal Law

Chapter III Theoretical Rationales of the Legality Principle 33

1 The Enlightenment era as the source for the legality principle 34

2 Individual liberty and autonomy 36

2.1 Interpretations of individual liberty and autonomy 36

2.2 Individual liberty and autonomy in criminal law 38

3 The principle of democracy 43

3.1 Features of the principle of democracy 43

3.2 Procedural and substantive democracy 45

4 Separation of powers 48

4.1 Montesquieu's theory 48

4.2 Montesquieu's three models of state 50

5 Rechtsstaat and Rule of Law 54

6 Other principles 58

6.1 Principle of legal certainty 58

6.2 Principle of guilt 61

7 Conclusion 64

Chapter IV The Application of the Principle in three National Systems 65

1 Preliminary remarks 66

2 Theoretical rationales 67

3 The normative role of the legality principle 71

3.1 Sources of criminal liability 71

3.2 Statutes and court judgements 73

4 The aspects of the principle of legality 78

5 Lex scripta and the English statute-reservation 79

6 Lexpraevia, presumption of non-retroactivity and precedence 82

7 Lex certa and maximum legal certainty 85

8 Lex stricta, precedence and strict interpretation 90

9 The principle of legality and the ECHR 95

9.1 The ECtHR approach 96

9.2 The influence of the ECtHR jurisprudence on national law 101

10 The erosion of the legality principle 103

10.1 Lex stricta 104

10.1.1 Can analogical reasoning be distinguished from interpretation? 104

10.1.2 Is analogical reasoning used in practice? 106

10.1.3 Will courts update norms to new circumstances? 108

10.1.4 Does the prohibition of analogy protect from judicial arbitrariness? 109

10.2 Lex certa 115

10.2.1 Who checks the compliance with lex certa? 115

10.2.2 Are there any specific criteria to determine precision? 117

10.2.3 Is maximum certainty attainable? 119

10.3 Lex scripta 121

10.3.1 Is case law a source of criminal liability? 121

10.3.2 Is jurisprudence an organism of law? 123

10.4 Lexpraevia 124

11 Conclusion 126

Chapter V Three Models of Criminal Justice 129

1 Formalism, realism and relational theory 130

2 Sword and Shield: two finalities of criminal law 132

3 Three models of criminal justice 134

4 The classical model of criminal justice 137

4.1 Characteristics and theoretical rationales 138

4.2 Characteristics of the legality principle 141

4.3 Criticism 142

5 The instrumentalist model of criminal justice 147

5.1 Main characteristics and theoretical rationales 149

5.2 The legality principle within this model 152

5.3 Criticism 155

6 The relational model of criminal justice 159

6.1 Main characteristics and theoretical rationales 159

6.2 The legality principle is a 'principle' 164

6.3 Application of the legality principle 166

6.4 Criticism 169

7 Conclusion 172

Part 3 The Principle of Legality in European Criminal Law

Chapter VI Fragments of the Legality Principle in European Criminal Law 177

1 The status of the principle of legality 178

2 Sources of criminal liability 179

2.1 Statutory criminal liability 180

2.2 Jurisprudence and criminal liability 183

2.3 Nuremberg exception 187

3 Non-retroactivity of criminal liability 187

3.1 Theoretical rationales: the principle of legitimate expectations 188

3.2 The application of non-retroactivity 190

3.2.1 Tempus legis 193

3.2.2 Tempus delicti 193

3.3 Amendments of criminal liability 194

4 Precision and accessibility of criminal liability 195

4.1 Theoretical rationales: the principles of legitimate expectations and legal certainty 196

4.2 Accessibility of criminal legislation 196

4.3 Precision of EU criminal legislation 199

4.4 Problems of ambiguity in EU legislation 200

4.5 Precision of national implementing legislation 204

4.6 Methods of implementation 207

5 Interpretation of criminal liability 209

5.1 Methods of interpreting EU law 210

5.2 Is the ECJ bound by the principle of legality? 212

5.3 The obligation of conform interpretation 215

6 Conclusion 219

Chapter VII The Legitimacy of European Criminal Justice 221

1 Three mind-sets for understanding the EU 222

2 Nature and legitimacy of the EU 225

3 Tendencies in legitimising European criminal law 228

3.1 The spill-over theory 229

3.2 A default European, instrumentalism 232

3.3 Anti-instrumentalist tendencies and their limitations 237

4 Interlocking legal orders: the relationship between European and national legal orders 243

4.1 The theory (and principle) of EU supremacy 245

4.1.1 General characteristics 245

4.1.2 The theory of EU supremacy in European criminal law 246

4.2 The theory of democratic statism 250

4.2.1 General characteristics 250

4.2.2 The theory of democratic statism in European criminal law 252

4.3 The theory of constitutional pluralism 256

4.3.1 General characteristics 256

4.3.2 Constitutional pluralism in European criminal law 258

4.4 Conclusion 261

5 A relational model for European criminal justice 262

5.1 The insufficiency of the instrumentalist model 263

5.2 The anachronistic nature of the classical model 266

6 Characteristics of a relational model for European criminal law 268

6.1 The Rechtskarakter of European criminal law 269

6.2 The principle of legal certainty 271

6.3 Counterfacticity of legal principles 272

7 Protection of individuals in European criminal law 273

8 Individual autonomy, democracy and separation of powers 278

8.1 Individual autonomy, human dignity and liberty 278

8.2 A European democratic principle 280

8.3 Separation of powers in the EU 283

8.3.1 Vertical separation of powers 283

8.3.2 Horizontal separation of powers 285

9 Conclusion 287

Chapter VIII The Principle of Legality in European Criminal Law 289

1 Theoretical rationales of the European legality principle 289

1.1 Rechtskarakter and European criminal justice 290

1.2 European demos and democracy 291

1.3 Separation of powers 293

1.4 Legal certainty and foreseeability 294

2 Legitimising and distributive roles of the European legality principle 295

2.1 Legitimation of European competences in substantive criminal law 296

2.2 Distribution of powers in the two-level European criminal justice system 298

3 Normative role: the aspects of the European legality principle 300

3.1 Lex scripta 300

3.1.1 Should case law be a source of criminal liability? 301

3.1.2 Lex parliamentaria and lex nationalis 303

3.2 Lex praevia 304

3.3 Lex certa 304

3.3.1 Accessibility of legislation 305

3.3.2 Precision of Directives and annulment proceedings 307

3.3.3 Implementation, infringement proceedings and the supervisory role of the ECJ 309

3.3.4 Is a European criminal code necessary? 310

3.4 Lexstricta 312

3.4.1 Preliminary reference procedure 312

3.4.2 Obligation of conform interpretation 313

4 Final conclusions 315

4.1 Reflection on the chosen methodology 315

4.2 Comparative analysis 316

4.3 Theoretical rationales 318

4.4 Relational model of criminal justice 319

4.5 Principle of legality 320

4.6 Future perspectives 322.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Jan 2018).

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Print version:

ISBN:

9781780685625

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