Principles Of Law In Modern Criminal Law Of China: Historical And Legal Analysis

Abstract

The article looks into the evolution of the concept of “the principles of criminal law” in the legislation of the People’s Republic of China during the second half of the twentieth century. The principles of law are recognized as the normative foundations of law, which determine the general scope, main peculiarities and the most significant features of legal regulation. The article studies a number of definitions offered by some Chinese scientists who dealt with the theoretical and legal problems. 
 The People’s Republic of China was created on October 1, 1949 against the background of destroyed economy, demoralized society, prevailing chaos and the unstructured nature of public authorities. In that period, no codified criminal law was in place. Some criminal acts of that time showed that any fundamental principles were included in the system of criminal legislation either. 
 The first Criminal Code of the People’s Republic of China of 1979 did not mention any principles of law, whereas the Criminal Code of 1997 provided for three fundamental principles, which became the subject of our analysis. These are the principle of legality, also known as the principle of no punishment for doing something that is not prohibited by law (nullum crimen, nullum točka sine lege), the principle of equality of citizens before the law, the principle of conformity of criminal-legal measures to the nature and circumstances of crime. It is these principles that have been reflected in the current criminal code. Despite the amendments of criminal law introduced over the last few decades, the principles of law have remained unchanged. 
 The conclusion to the publication makes a suggestion to introduce the general principle of humanism into in the General Provisions of the Criminal Code of China. The scholar believes that this principle should be recognized as the key principle of the criminal law of China, and will aim to ensure the democratic nature of Chinese criminal law.