Practice question · Multiple choice
Why is it consistent to forbid retroactive criminal law and at the same time apply a later, milder law to conduct already committed?
Hints
- Ask whom the guarantee protects and against what.
- A citizen who acted knowing a penalty of ten years cannot complain of receiving eight.
Show the answer
B. Non-retroactivity protects advance notice of offences, which a milder subsequent law does not undermine
Why
Because the guarantee is one-directional by design. It exists so that nobody is punished for conduct they could not have known was forbidden, or more heavily than the law then announced. A later law that reduces the penalty offends neither concern, which is why Article 2.2 CP makes it retroactive even against a final judgment.
Practise The Principle of Legality
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