Legal Literacy - This article explains the essence and implementation of the principle of legality in criminal law.

The Essence of the Principle of Legality

The principle of legality is one of the most important legal principles. In criminal law, this principle is the basis for imposing criminal sanctions on someone who commits a criminal act.

The principle of legality is known as nullum delictum nulla poena sine praevia lege poenali. This means no crime without law. Specifically, this principle states that a person's actions cannot be subject to criminal sanctions if there is no regulation that determines that the act deserves criminal sanctions.

In Indonesia, the principle of legality of criminal law is contained in Article 1 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code ("KUHP") which reads as follows:

No act may be subject to criminal sanctions and/or actions, except by virtue of criminal regulations in statutory regulations that existed before the act was committed.

From these provisions, there are 2 ideas in the principle of legality. First, regulations are the basis for punishing actions. Second, regulations precede actions.

These ideas raise many questions. For example, for the first idea, what are the indicators of regulations that can be used to punish actions? Then, for the second idea, is it possible for an act to be punished by regulations that exist…