NULLUM CRIMEN SINE LEGE

Abstract

This article discusses the issue of one of the most important Latin expressions that establish at the level of general principle that no crime exists outside the law.The purpose of the criminal law being the defense against the offenses of the right order, ensuring this order implies a strict respect of the principle of legality.Part of the principle of legality, the legality of incrimination, was formulated among the first, by the Beccaria in Dei delitti e delle pene and proclaimed also in the Declaration of Human and Citizen Rights (1789).Subsequently, the principle of legality of incrimination was passed in most criminal codes and even in some constitutions.The Romanian penal code emphasizes that the incriminations can only take place by law, not by other normative acts.In our law, crime is the sole basis of criminal liability.The second part of the principle of legality stipulates the legality of the punishments, so that, the crime being the only theme of the criminal liability, at the time of the commission the sanction must also intervene. Only when the sanction intervenes, it must be taken into account in particular that by sanctioning the offenders and the way in which the punishments are enforced some fundamental rights of the person are restricted, such as: freedom of movement, enshrined in all democratic constitutions, free development of the personality of the man and of his participation in the social and economic life, in the family life, the interruption of the professional activity and not lastly the affectation of his dignity. Therefore legality is a fundamental principle of criminal law: the criminalization can only take place through a law, and the sanction only if it is provided by law.