The Constitutional Deficiencies of the German 'Rechtsgutslehre'

Authors

  • Carl-Friedrich Stuckenberg Universität Bonn

Keywords:

Criminology, Constitutional law, constitutional limits of criminal law, democracy and criminal law, democratic criminal law, prohibition of incest, protection of legal goods, , protection of legal interests, Rechtsgutslehre, Ultima Ratio, punishment

Abstract

This paper questions the theoretical merits and constitutional validity of the “Rechtsgutslehre” (doctrine of the protection of legal goods), a widely held doctrine about the limits of legitimate criminalization in Germany and some other jurisdictions. The immediate cause for this reassessment is a recent decision of the German constitutional court which upheld the German incest prohibition and simultaneously rejected the traditional “Rechtsgutslehre” as constitutionally irrelevant, thereby stirring up considerable controversy among academic criminal lawyers. The paper tries to show why the court’s view is correct by pointing out the main deficiencies of the doctrine and what criteria a better theory must fulfil.

Este artículo cuestiona los méritos teóricos y la validez constitucional de la "Rechtsgutslehre" (doctrina de la protección de los bienes jurídicos), una doctrina muy extendida acerca de los límites de la criminalización legítima en Alemania y algunas otras jurisdicciones. La causa inmediata de esta nueva valoración es una decisión reciente del Tribunal Constitucional alemán que ratificó la prohibición del incesto en Alemania y al mismo tiempo rechazó el tradicional "Rechtsgutslehre" por ser constitucionalmente irrelevante, lo que provocó una considerable controversia entre la comunidad académica de abogados criminalistas. El artículo trata de mostrar por qué la decisión de la corte es correcta, señalando las deficiencias principales de la doctrina y los criterios que una teoría más adecuada debe cumplir.

DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER FROM SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2200870

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Ultima Ratio, a principle at risk. European Perspectives

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Published

02-05-2012

How to Cite

Stuckenberg, C.-F. (2012) “The Constitutional Deficiencies of the German ’Rechtsgutslehre’”, Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 3(1), pp. 31–41. Available at: https://opo.iisj.net/index.php/osls/article/view/190 (Accessed: 23 December 2024).

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2013): Ultima Ratio, a principle at risk. European Perspectives

Section

Part one: Theoretical approaches on ultima ratio

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