Download This PaperIndividual Emergencies and the Rule of Criminal Law
RETHINKING CRIMINAL LAW THEORY: NEW CANADIAN PERSPECTIVES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF DOMESTIC, TRANSNATIONAL, AND INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW, F. Tanguay-Renaud and J. Stribopoulos, eds., Hart Publishing, 2011
48 Pages Posted: 16 May 2011 Last revised: 19 May 2011
There are 2 versions of this paper
Individual Emergencies and the Rule of Criminal Law
Individual Emergencies and the Rule of Criminal Law
Date Written: May 1, 2011
Abstract
This is the penultimate version of a paper to be published as a chapter in F. Tanguay-Renaud and J. Stribopoulos (eds.) Rethinking Criminal Law Theory: New Canadian Perspectives in the Philosophy of Domestic, Transnational, and International Criminal Law (Hart Publishing, forthcoming 2011). It represents a significantly reworked version of a paper with the same title posted on SSRN three years ago.
The paper discusses various accommodations that ought to be made in the substantive criminal law to account for the challenges that individual emergencies may pose to the legitimacy of its rule. I address specific puzzles related to emergency-related reason/fact-relative justifications, evidence-relative justifications, and excuses. The paper also includes a discussion of the status of morality in the face of individual emergencies, as well as of the rule and authority of criminal law. I conclude by differentiating the challenges posed by individual and more generalised emergencies.
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