Principle Of Legality In French Criminal Law
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Principle Of Legality In French Criminal Law
The principle of legality in French criminal law holds that no one may be convicted of a criminal offense unless a previously published legal text sets out in clear and precise wording out the constituent elements of the offense and the penalty which applies to it. (Latin:, in other words, "no crime, no penalty, without a law"). The principle of legality (french: link=no, principe de légalité) is one of the most fundamental principles of French criminal law, and goes back to the Penal Code of 1791 adopted during the French Revolution, and before that, was developed by Italian criminologist Cesare Beccaria and by Montesquieu. The principle has its origins in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which endows it with constitutional force and limits the conditions in which citizens may be punished for infractions. History The principle of legality of punishment and crime was identified and conceptualized in the Enlightenment. It is generally attribu ...
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French Criminal Law
Criminal law in France is one of the branches of the juridical system of the French Republic. The field of criminal law is defined as a sector of French law, and is a combination of public and private law, insofar as it punishes private behavior on behalf of society as a whole. Its function is to define, categorize, prevent, and punish criminal offenses committed by a person, whether a natural person () or a In this sense it is of a punitive nature, as opposed to which settles disputes between individuals. These offenses are divided into three categories, according to increasing severity: and ''crimes''. The latter two categories are determined by the legislature, while contraventions are the responsibility of the executive branch. This tripartite division is matched by the courts responsible for enforcing criminal law: the police tribunal for infractions; the '' tribunal correctionnel'' for ; the cour d'assises for . Criminal law is carried out within the rules of whi ...
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Constitutional Council (France)
The Constitutional Council (french: Conseil constitutionnel; ) is the highest constitutional authority in France. It was established by the Constitution of the Fifth Republic on 4 October 1958 to ensure that constitutional principles and rules are upheld. It is housed in the Palais-Royal, Paris. Its main activity is to rule on whether proposed statutes conform with the Constitution, after they have been voted by Parliament and before they are signed into law by the President of the Republic (''a priori'' review). Since 1 March 2010, individual citizens who are party to a trial or a lawsuit have been able to ask for the Council to review whether the law applied in the case is constitutional ( review). In 1971, the Council ruled that conformity with the Constitution also entails conformity with two other texts referred to in the preamble of the Constitution, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and the preamble of the constitution of the Fourth Republic, both ...
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Principle Of Legality In Criminal Law
The principle of legality in criminal law was developed in the eighteenth century by the Italian criminal lawyer Cesare Beccaria and holds that no one can only be convicted of a crime without a previously published legal text which clearly describes the crime. In Latin: , this principle is accepted and codified in modern democratic states as a basic requirement of the rule of law. It has been described as "one of the most 'widely held value-judgement in the entire history of human thought'" By country Canada In Canada, the principle of legality in penal law is found in Article 9 of the Canadian Criminal Code which declares that criminal infractions must fall under Canadian law, and that no one may be found guilty of a criminal infraction under common law. The principle of legality is also mentioned in Article 11g: Every defendant has a right to not be found guilty of an action or omission which, at the moment it took place, did not constitute an infraction under the int ...
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Ex Post Facto Law
An ''ex post facto'' law (from ) is a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences (or status) of actions that were committed, or relationships that existed, before the enactment of the law. In criminal law, it may Criminalization, criminalize actions that were legal when committed; it may aggravate a crime by bringing it into a more severe category than it was in when it was committed; it may change the punishment prescribed for a crime, as by adding new penalties or extending sentences; or it may alter the rules of evidence in order to make conviction for a crime likelier than it would have been when the deed was committed. Conversely, a form of ''ex post facto'' law commonly called an amnesty law may decriminalize certain acts. (Alternatively, rather than redefining the relevant acts as non-criminal, it may simply prohibit prosecution; or it may enact that there is to be no punishment, but leave the underlying conviction technically unaltered.) A pardon has a similar ...
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Nulla Poena Sine Lege
''Nulla poena sine lege'' (Latin for "no penalty without law", Anglicized pronunciation: ) is a legal principle which states that one cannot be punished for doing something that is not prohibited by law. This principle is accepted and codified in modern democratic states as a basic requirement of the rule of law. It has been described as "one of the most 'widely held value-judgement in the entire history of human thought. Requirements In modern European criminal law, e.g. of the Constitutional Court of Germany, the principle of ''nulla poena sine lege'' has been found to consist of four separate requirements: ;''Nulla poena sine lege praevia'': There is to be no penalty without ''previous'' law. This prohibits ex post facto laws, and the retroactive application of criminal law. It is a basic maxim in mainland European legal thinking. It was written by Paul Johann Anselm Ritter von Feuerbach as part of the Bavarian Criminal Code in 1813. ;''Nulla poena sine lege scripta'': There ...
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Code Pénal (France)
The ''Code pénal'' is the codification of French criminal law (droit pénal). It took effect March 1, 1994 and replaced the French Penal Code of 1810, which had until then been in effect. This in turn has become known as the "old penal code" in the rare decisions that still need to apply it. The new code was created by several laws promulgated on July 22, 1992. It introduced the judicial notion of fundamental national interests () (Book IV, Title I). History The Penal Code project began with the work of a commission created by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in a decree issued on November 8, 1974. The membership of the commission was set by a February 25, 1975 decree. The president of the commission was , later replaced by Guy Chavanon, the procureur général of the Court of Cassation. The definitive draft of ''Book I (General Provisions)'', heavily criticised by the criminal justice community, was rejected by the Élysée Palace on February 22, 1980. After government ...
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Decision 71-44 DC Of 16 July 1971
A preamble is an introductory and expressionary statement in a document that explains the document's purpose and underlying philosophy. When applied to the opening paragraphs of a statute, it may recite historical facts pertinent to the subject of the statute. It is distinct from the long title or enacting formula of a law. In parliamentary procedure using Robert's Rules of Order, a preamble consists of "Whereas" clauses that are placed before the resolving clauses in a Resolution (law), resolution (formal written Motion (parliamentary procedure), motion). However, preambles are not required to be placed in resolutions. According to Robert's Rules of Order, including such background information may not be helpful in passing the resolution. Legal effect While preambles may be regarded as unimportant introductory matter, their words may have effects that may not have been foreseen by their drafters. France In France, the preamble to the constitution of the Fifth Republic of ...
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French Constitution
The current Constitution of France was adopted on 4 October 1958. It is typically called the Constitution of the Fifth Republic , and it replaced the Constitution of the Fourth Republic of 1946 with the exception of the preamble per a Constitutional Council decision in July 1971. The current Constitution regards the separation of church and state, democracy, social welfare, and indivisibility as core principles of the French state. Charles de Gaulle was the main driving force in introducing the new constitution and inaugurating the Fifth Republic, while the text was drafted by Michel Debré. Since then, the constitution has been amended twenty-four times, through 2008. Provisions Preamble The preamble of the constitution recalls the ''Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen'' from 1789 and establishes France as a secular and democratic country, deriving its sovereignty from the people. Government institutions and practices The French Constitution establi ...
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Declaration Of The Rights Of Man
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (french: Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen de 1789, links=no), set by France's National Constituent Assembly in 1789, is a human civil rights document from the French Revolution. Inspired by Enlightenment philosophers, the Declaration was a core statement of the values of the French Revolution and had a major impact on the development of popular conceptions of individual liberty and democracy in Europe and worldwide. The Declaration was originally drafted by the Marquis de Lafayette, but the majority of the final draft came from the Abbé Sieyès. Influenced by the doctrine of natural right, the rights of man are held to be universal: valid at all times and in every place. It became the basis for a nation of free individuals protected equally by the law. It is included in the beginning of the constitutions of both the Fourth French Republic (1946) and Fifth Republic (1958), and is considered valid as const ...
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Parlements
A ''parlement'' (), under the French Ancien Régime, was a provincial appellate court of the Kingdom of France. In 1789, France had 13 parlements, the oldest and most important of which was the Parlement of Paris. While both the modern French term ''parlement'' (for the legislature) and the English word ''parliament'' derive from this French term, the Ancien Régime parlements were not legislative bodies and the modern and ancient terminology are not interchangeable. History Parlements were judicial organizations consisting of a dozen or more appellate judges, or about 1,100 judges nationwide. They were the courts of final appeal of the judicial system, and typically wielded power over a wide range of subjects, particularly taxation. Laws and edicts issued by the Crown were not official in their respective jurisdictions until the parlements gave their assent by publishing them. The members of the parlements were aristocrats, called nobles of the robe, who had bought or inh ...
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The Spirit Of The Law
The letter of the law and the spirit of the law are two possible ways to regard rules, or laws. To obey the letter of the law is to follow the literal reading of the words of the law, whereas following the spirit of the law means enacting the intent behind the law. Although it is usual to follow both the letter and the spirit, the two are commonly referenced when they are in opposition. "Law" originally referred to legislative statute, but in the idiom may refer to any kind of rule. Intentionally following the letter of the law but not the spirit may be accomplished through exploiting technicalities, loopholes, and ambiguous language. Rules as written (RAW) versus rules as intended (RAI) is a similar expression originating from the tabletop role-playing game community. Legal research Violating the perceived intention of the law has been found to affect people's judgments of culpability above and beyond violations of the letter of the law such that (1) a person can violate ...
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French Penal Code Of 1791
The French Penal Code of 1791 was a penal code adopted during the French Revolution by the Constituent Assembly, between 25 September and 6 October 1791. It was France's first penal code, and was influenced by the Enlightenment thinking of Montesquieu and Cesare Beccaria. The principle of legality was foremost in the underlying philosophy of the 1791 Code. In the spirit of the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, Cesare, Marquis of Beccaria summarized the principles that were to be the foundation of the procedural system. In his words, "every citizen should know what punishment he should endure." As a consequence, the function of the judge was conceived as being strictly distributive: qualification of an act, infliction of the pre-set sanction. This concept was revolutionary in 1791 and clearly departed from the arbitrary trials of the ''ancien régime''. The Code of 1791 was straightforward in this respect; most definitions were clear, leaving little room ...
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