Plain Interpretation And Systematic Interpretation:The Redescription Of Criminal Law’s Interpretation

The interpretation of criminal law is one the most classic theoretical issues.The development of criminal law’s interpretation,which was severely influenced by legal socialization,follows the normal jurisprudence research.The typical property of legal socialization is the Substantial Rule of Law,which results in the theory of Segregation of Text and Norm,where the texts of law are not the only expression of legal norms,and the judicial officials are entitled to find out these norms through all kinds of legal methods.The Segregation of Text and Norm was also embodied in criminal law’s interpretation.The purpose of criminal law,the concept of legal interests and the Substantial Legality are taken as decisive factors to determine the interpretation result.And there also comes couples of different view-points about the interpretation methods,interpretation standpoints and even the function of Legality Principle.When conducting the legal research,a more sensible attitude should be taken to the theoretical diversity.For example,whether the results of normal jurisprudence research can be totally employed by criminal law,when concerning the speciality of criminal law’s function and doctrine? Whether the current research in criminal law’s interpretation is capable to provide a distinct and practical standard for legal practice,which also conforms to the speciality of legal texts and Legality Principle?The dissertation will take all these matters,including interpretation methods,interpretation standpoints,the speciality of criminal law’s texts and the practice of interpretation,into consideration,and purpose on find out more distinct and practical interpretation methods.The first chapter demonstrates how Segregation of Text and Norm has impact on criminal law,and analyze the Hart’s Social Control Theory about law’s function.And this chapter finally analyze the current interpretation methods,taking the foreseeability of ordinary people as the criteria.The legal research accepts the semantic factors,systematical factors,historical factors and purposing factors as the basis of interpretation method,which highlights the reason of legal interpretation and demonstrate its scientific and practical property.When considering the social function of criminal law,the primary function of criminal law is behavior regulation,and the second function is the judgment regulation,confirming the primary function.The criminal law is initially applied to the ordinary people without any training of legal practice,so reading the legal texts is the only way to understand the legislation.So the foreseealibity is the indispensible factor that the judicial officer must take into consideration.Under this circumstance,the literal interpretation and systematic interpretation are tightly connected to semantics,which guarantees the foreseeabiliy,although there are still some problems needed to resolve.But when practicing the historical interpretation and purposing interpretation,the judicial organ,who lacks the legislative power and resources,is not capable to grasp the full decision and aim of legislator,is not capable to interpret the words within the legal texts.The second chapter discusses the standpoint of legal interpretation.The Formal Interpretation and Substantial Interpretation both accept the The Segregation of Text and Norm,and evaluate the law before apply it.The process of these interpretation is beyond the formation of legislation,and the judicial officers are allowed to using value judgment,rather than legal judgment,to decide the case.These theories totally violate the Legality Principle and the essence of the criminal law’s function.The criminal law’s social aim,under the rule of law,is to achieve the protection of social order as well as human right.The victims’ interests,the defendants’ interests and the innocent’s interests are all parallel,working as decisive matters when legislating the criminal law.The Legality Principle can only assume the burden of protecting the human right,to balance all these criminal law’s values.And it requires that the interpretation must be semantic and the factors of interpretation must be defined in the text.So the Legality Principle can not be seen as substantial elements.The literal and systematic interpretation stress the legality of interpretation,following the Legality Principle.But the historical and purposing interpretation are cut the association with legal code,finding interpretation reasons within value judgement rather than legal judgement,and can not be taken as criminal law’s legal methods.The third chapter discuss the plain interpretation.When comparing with the literal interpretation,although both highlight the semantic factors,the plain interpretation stresses the reason,which will regulate the interpretation process.It also stress the connection between ordinary people and legislation,which confirms the criminal law’s primary function.When interpretating the natural crimes,the judicial officers should follow the ordinary and plain meaning of the word.When refer to legal crimes,the special and professional meaning should be considered.The legal practice is not as objective as scientific practice,which requires the negociation between lawyers,prosecutors,and judges.The arbitrary decision in the interpretation should be denied.An opener and more communicating environment should be maintained.On the one hand,the court should guarantee that the freedom of expression and legal workers should respect and help each other to achieve a more reasonable judgment.On the other hand,legal workers should improve their communication and arguing skills.The fourth chapter discusses the systematic interpretation.The logical standard of legislation should also be taken into consideration when interpretating the law.The judicial officers may compare and classify the words to find out their legal meaning.The systematic interpretation still focus on the semantic standard of the word.The scope of systematic factors are within the criminal law as well as other legislation.The purpose and value of law cannot be taken into the interpretation.When coping with overlap of articles,the special articles is prior to the normal one,according the independence of crimes.The penalty of crimes cannot influence the interpretation of criminal element,because they stress the different aspect of the crimes.If the words are too vague to interpret,the legal works should apply the rule of lenity to the case and acquit the defendant,for the law didn’t distinctly demonstrate the criminal elements and violate the Legality Principle.