3.7 Principle of Legality

The umbrella: everything above composed — no crime, no punishment, except by pre- existing, certain, strictly-construed, non-retroactive law. The constitutional text (Article 20(4)); the ICCPR's treaty guarantee; the exceptions stated honestly (lex mitior; the international- crimes exception — the general principles of law recognised by the community of nations, the Nuremberg answer to the nullum crimen objection). Legality's practical faces in the courtroom: the charge must allege an existing offence's ingredients; the court cannot create offences by analogy (the custom cannot criminalize — only the statute); the punishment cannot exceed the scale in force at the act; and the interpretive canon — the penal statute's ambiguity resolved for the accused (lex stricta with in dubio pro reo as its trial companion). The Article 20 criminal-process architecture (memorize for the whole course): 20(1)-(3) custody safeguards (grounds informed, counsel from arrest, 24-hour production); 20(4) legality + non-retroactivity; 20(5) presumption of innocence; 20(6) double jeopardy; 20(7) privilege against self-incrimination; 20(8) right to be informed; 20(9) fair hearing; 20(10) free legal aid — with Article 22's torture prohibition policing the evidence-gathering. Exam Focus Long questions: (i) The principles of legality (the four dimensions + the constitutional anchors); (ii) Any pair in depth (ignorantia with its qualifications; double jeopardy with its anatomy; actus-mens with the concurrence problems); (iii) The maxim-by-maxim survey (the consolidation table IS…