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Europe as Transnational Law – A Criminal Law for Europe: Between National Heritage and Transnational Necessities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

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Criminal law is different, it is often said, from other areas of law in that it is rooted in and thus depends on national heritage to a great extent. This uniqueness is recognized by European institutions, as expressed by General Advocat Mazák in a case concerning the protection of the environment by means of criminal law:

“In many respects, criminal law stands out from other areas of law. Availing itself of the most severe and most dissuasive tool of social control – punishments – it delineates the outer limits of acceptable behaviour and in that way protects the values held dearest by the community at large. As an expression essentially of the common will, criminal penalties reflect particular social disapproval and are in that respect of a qualitatively different nature as compared with other punishments such as administrative sanctions.

Type
GLJ@TEN – Europe as Transnational Law
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 by German Law Journal GbR 

References

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