Written by:Muhammad Ghoffar Ali(Law Student at Jenderal Achmad Yani University, Yogyakarta)

Legal Literacy - This article discusses the principle of legality in criminal law. What is the principle of legality? How is it applied? Let's read the following article!

What is the Principle of Legality?

The principle of legality is a fundamental principle in law criminal law that affirms that every action considered unlawful must be subject to legal sanctions in accordance with the provisions in the Law. This principle means that everyone must be processed and punished in accordance with applicable legal provisions, without exception, and without any discrimination. This principle is the foundation of justice and legal certainty, so every action taken by law enforcement officials must consider this principle.

There are many definitions put forward by criminal law experts regarding the principle of Legality. The principle of legality is "no act can be punished if there is no prior criminal provision governing it." The above understanding is in line with the legal adage "non obligat lec nisi promulgate" which means a law cannot be binding unless it has been enacted.

If you look at the wording of Article 1 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code namely "no act can be punished except based on the provisions of the criminal law." So, basically, this principle of legality means that a person who is considered to have committed a criminal act can be given suffering/criminal sanctions if the act committed is regulated by law and classified as a criminal act, but conversely, if the act is not regulated or is not classified as a criminal act, then the person cannot be punished.

However, unfortunately, in the Criminal Code, the definition of law is not explained in the article, and even the term criminal law is not written in the first chapter of the first book.

Simons argues that criminal law is all regulations according to legislation that contain criminal provisions.

Based on the above understanding, it can be concluded as follows:

First, an act is said to be a criminal act if the act is regulated in advance in the criminal law.

Second, criminal regulations according to criminal law mean provisions in both codification and non-codification. Third, criminal law also contains formal and material meaning.