Study On The Retroactivity Of Criminal Law

The retroactivity of criminal law refers to whether the effected criminal law is applied to the behavior or not that took place before the criminal law takes effect. If the criminal law can be applied to the behavior, then it has the retroactivity; if the criminal law can't be applied to the behavior, then it hasn't the retroactivity. Speedy development of modern society leads to amendment of the law again and again. In our country, the action that the lawmaker amends the criminal law has never been stopped even after the new criminal law taking effect On October, 1st, 1997. As a result, the criminal law amendments have been come on time after time. In our country, the criminal law definitely stipulates that applying the former and the lighter criminal law is the principle of the retroactivity of criminal law. But the stipulation is too sketchy to solve various problems in the judicial practice. At the same time, there are different opinions about the retroactivity of criminal law in the theory circles. The retroactivity of criminal law concerns applying which criminal law to one's behavior and the distinction of guilty and innocent and the degree of conviction. It plays a very important role in ensuring citizen freedom and human rights. So it has an important significance to study the retroactivity of criminal law in both theory and practice.Except foreword and epilogue , this thesis is divided into the following four parts: The first part: the outline of the retroactivity of criminal law. In this part, I discussed the retroactivity of criminal law's conception, the reason of it having emerged, its evolution in our country and the relationship between it and the principle of"conviction and penalty according to law". Through tracing to the source, I'm sure that ensuring citizen freedom and human rights is the value and purpose of the retroactivity of criminal law. Ensuring citizen freedom and human rights should become the criterion to analyze and evaluate various opinions and legislation about the retroactivity of criminal law and to solve the difficult problems about the retroactivity of criminal law in judicial practice.The second part: the application of the retroactivity of criminal law. In this part, according to the criterion mentioned in the first part, I analyzed and evaluated some principles of the application of the retroactivity of criminal law. I think the principle of"applying the former and the lighter criminal law"is the best one that accords with the criterion mentioned in the first part. Then, I analyzed the meaning of"applying the lighter criminal law". Finally, I discussed the six problems in the applying process of the retroactivity of criminal law in our country, for example, the requirements that the criminal law can apply with one's former behaviour, the problem of middle criminal law, the problem of the range of the retroactivity of criminal law and so on.The third part: the relationship between the retroactivity of criminal law and the effectiveness of adjudication. In this part, I discussed three principles adopted on the relationship between the retroactivity of criminal law and the effectiveness of adjudication. Different principle often effects a change of the range of the retroactivity of criminal law. I think the limited correlative principle can accord with not only the criterion mentioned in the first part but also the judicial practice of our country.The fourth part: the retroactivity of judicial interpretation of the criminal law. In this part, I introduced the conditions of the judicial interpretation of the criminal law in our country. On the basis of the conditions above, I think the principle of"applying the latter and the lighter law"is the best principle that should be adopted in the applying process of the retroactivity of judicial interpretation of the criminal law in our country, because it is the best principle that accords with the criterion mentioned in the first part.