The Penal Code of Romania (''Codul penal al României'') is a document providing the legal basis regarding

criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. The Code contains 446 articles. The articles mention aspects such as the national boundaries of law and the crimes that fall under the incidence of penal law. Judicial discretion is granted by the Code through the use of minimum and maximum sentences. The most recent version of the Romanian Penal Code has come into effect on 1 February 2014.

History

The Penal Code of 1865

The Romanian Penal Code was first issued in 1865, under the leadership of A.I. Cuza. The Code (also known as the ''Cuza Code'') standardized the laws of the Principality of Wallachia and

Principality of Moldova Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Cent ...

, which since 1859 were united under a single

Principality A principality (or sometimes princedom) can either be a monarchical feudatory or a sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a regnant-monarch with the title of prince and/or princess, or by a monarch with another title considered to fall un ...

. The Code has been developed using several notions from the Penal Code of France and the

Penal Code of Prussia Penal is a town in south Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago. It lies south of San Fernando, Princes Town, and Debe, and north of Moruga, Morne Diablo and Siparia. It was originally a rice- and cocoa-producing area but is now a rapidly expanding and d ...

. The ''Cuza Code'' included the principle of

legal equality Equality before the law, also known as equality under the law, equality in the eyes of the law, legal equality, or legal egalitarianism, is the principle that all people must be equally protected by the law. The principle requires a systematic ru ...

. Instead of the

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

, the most extreme punishment that could be legally enforced was penal labor.

Cruel and unusual punishments Cruel and unusual punishment is a phrase in common law describing punishment that is considered unacceptable due to the suffering, pain, or humiliation it inflicts on the person subjected to the sanction. The precise definition varies by jurisdi ...

were prohibited. Based on the Code, crimes were classified under three headings:

delict Delict (from Latin ''dēlictum'', past participle of ''dēlinquere'' ‘to be at fault, offend’) is a term in civil and mixed law jurisdictions whose exact meaning varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction but is always centered on the notion of ...

s, misdemeanors and

contravention In many civil law countries (e.g.: France, Belgium, Switzerland, Portugal, Italy, Brazil) a contravention is a non-criminal offense, similar to an infraction or civil penalty in common law countries. France Contravention is, in French la ...

s. The concept of

attempted crimes An attempt to commit a crime occurs if a criminal has an intent to commit a crime and takes a substantial step toward completing the crime, but for reasons not intended by the criminal, the final resulting crime does not occur.''Criminal Law - ...

was not mentioned throughout the code; attempting to commit a crime was punished just as harshly as if the crime happened. The

accomplice Under the English common law, an accomplice is a person who actively participates in the commission of a crime, even if they take no part in the actual criminal offense. For example, in a bank robbery, the person who points the gun at the telle ...

was to receive the same punishment as the author of the crime. The Code did not criminalize prostitution. Cannabis consumption was not a punishable offense. The Penal Code of 1865 marked the beginning of unitary penal law in Romania.

The Penal Code of 1936

The Penal Code of 1936 (also known as ''The Penal Code of

Carol II Carol II (4 April 1953) was King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until his forced abdication on 6 September 1940. The eldest son of Ferdinand I, he became crown prince upon the death of his grand-uncle, King Carol I in 1914. He was the first of th ...

'') was introduced in order to standardize the many changes in the legal system that have arisen as a result of the Union of 1918. The new Code was heavily updated; the

presumption of innocence The presumption of innocence is a legal principle that every person accused of any crime is considered innocent until proven guilty. Under the presumption of innocence, the legal burden of proof is thus on the prosecution, which must presen ...

was expressly mentioned. The sentence was defined as being given in order to punish the crime, not the person committing it. The concept of individual punishments (as opposed to

collective punishment Collective punishment is a punishment or sanction imposed on a group for acts allegedly perpetrated by a member of that group, which could be an ethnic or political group, or just the family, friends and neighbors of the perpetrator. Because ind ...

) has been introduced in the Code. The Penal Code of 1936 remained unchanged in terms of complicity to crime.

The Penal Code of 1969

The Penal Code of 1969 has been developed in accordance to

Marxist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...

ideals. The capital punishment has been re-introduced.

Parasitism Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson ha ...

has been introduced as a legal offense. Homosexual acts were classified as a criminal offense. Nonetheless, the Code retained the

. The Code was now expressly mentioning the concept of complicity to crime. It also included specific definitions of ''infraction'', ''attempt'', ''perjury'', ''rape'', ''bribe'', ''prostitution'', ''war propaganda'' and ''theft''.

Post-1989 amendments

The Penal Code after the

Romanian Revolution of 1989 The Romanian Revolution ( ro, Revoluția Română), also known as the Christmas Revolution ( ro, Revoluția de Crăciun), was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred ...

has been updated 29 times as of December 2008.

Capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

was replaced with

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes fo ...

, as the post-Communist

Constitution of Romania The current Constitution of Romania is the seventh permanent constitution in modern Romania's history. It is the fundamental governing document of Romania that establishes the structure of its government, the rights and obligations of citizens, ...

outlaws the death penalty. Sections criminalizing

parasitism Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson ha ...

adultery Adultery (from Latin ''adulterium'') is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal ...

and

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

relationships (which were banned under

Nicolae Ceauşescu Nicolae may refer to: * Nicolae (name), a Romanian name * ''Nicolae'' (novel), a 1997 novel See also *Nicolai (disambiguation) Nicolai may refer to: *Nicolai (given name) people with the forename ''Nicolai'' *Nicolai (surname) people with the s ...

in 1968) were also removed.

The Penal Code of 2014

A new Penal Code (Law no. 286/2009) came into force on 1 February 2014, together with a new Penal Procedure Code. According to official explanatory notes released prior to its implementation, the new legislation aimed to simplify and accelerate criminal proceedings, eliminate overlaps between Penal Code provisions and those contained in special laws, transpose European regulations into national law and ensure the observance of human rights provisions contained by the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

and various international treaties signed by Romania. In this context, the code redefined the concept of criminal offences, adjusted prison sentences, amended the mechanisms by which criminal fines are calculated, eliminated prison sentences for juvenile offenders and introduced new offences against persons, property, justice and professional conduct.

Prostitution Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...

was decriminalized.

Structure

The code is divided into a General Part and a Special Part. The former contains general provisions on offences, penalties, criminal liability, the status of minors, security measures, and prescription, while the latter regulates individual offences, which are grouped into twelve titles, plus an additional title comprising final provisions. Compared to the Code of 1969, the new code is longer, comprising 446 articles versus its predecessor's 363.

Bibliography

{{LegalcodesofRomania Romanian criminal law

1865 in law 1936 in law 1969 in law 2014 in law