On the Technique of Constructing Criminal Law

Abstract

The article covers the study of theoretical provisions on the legislative technique of constructing a criminal law. The author proves that the technique of creating criminal law norms differs significantly from the technique of creating norms in other branches of law. In the theory of law, there is no single concept that would unite the rules, the observance of which would guarantee the creation of a high-quality text of the law, just as there is no single normative act that would regulate the process of lawmaking in any area. This determines the fact that a large number of norms of the criminal law cause criticism for various reasons: the absence in the disposition of the norm of describing certain elements of the crime, the use of terms of ambiguous content, enshrining in one norm acts of different public danger, the inconsistency of the name of the article with its contents. Improvement of the criminal law is impossible without creating a scientifically based concept of the legislative make-up of criminal law norms. The author has made an attempt to define specific rules, the observance of which will make it possible to construct norms of criminal law with clear contents, without gaps, ensuring an adequate possibility of their application in reference to each other. An analysis of the techniques (methods) for constructing a norm, classified according to the degree of generalization and the degree of completeness of presentation of the norm, is presented. Each of them is assessed from the standpoint of the appropriateness of use in various cases. Specific rules relating to the structure, content of the chapters of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and their individual norms and language rules are formulated. Examples of violations committed during the construction of certain norms of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and recommendations for their elimination are given.