Legality Flashcards
Principle of Legality
No crime without law
A person may not be convicted and punished their conduct was previously defined as criminal
Ex Post Facto Laws
Legislatures are prohibited by the ex post facto clause of the constitution from enacting laws that punish conduct that was lawful at the time of its commission, or that increases the punishment for an act committed before the law took effect.
Bill of Attainder
Special legislation that declares a specific person to be guilty of a crime and subject to punishment without either trial or conviction.
Reception Statute
A statutory law adopted as a former British colony becomes independent by which the new nation adopts, or receives, the English common law before its independence to the extent not explicitly rejected by the legislative body or constitution of the new nation.
Corollary
Forming a proposition that follows one already proved.
Corollary Principles
Criminal statutes should be understandable to the ordinary person
Criminal statutes should be written so that they do not give undue discretion as to basic policy matters on a subjective basis
Judicial interpretation of ambiguous statutes should be biased in favor of the accused/defendant.
Void for Vagueness Doctrine
Provision for fair notice and warning
Prevention of arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement
There is a HIGH BAR for vagueness
Lenity Doctrine
Provides that if a statute can reasonably be interpreted favorably to the government and equally reasonably be interpreted favorable to the defendant, it should be read in the light more favorable to the defendant.
Today, not often applied. Only codified in FL and OH
INVOLUNTARY Acts under the MPC
A reflex or convulsion
A bodily movement during unconsciousness or sleep
Conduct during hypnosis or resulting from hypnotic suggestion
A bodily movement that otherwise is not a product of the effort or determination of the actor, either consciousness or habitual
