MICKY SHORT NOTE CENTER
CRIMINAL LAW BOOK I short note
Page | 1
, UNIT-I
INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINAL LAW
What is Criminal law?
The definition of a crime has always been regarded as a matter of great difficulty.
Criminal Law is the body of law defining crimes against the community at large, regulating
how suspects are investigated, charged, and tried, and establishing punishments for convicted
criminals.
If so, what is Crime and criminal science?
“Crime” is an offence committed by an individual who is a basic unit of a society.
Therefore, Criminal Science” is a social study. The main aims of Criminal Science are:
To discover the causes of criminality,
To devise the most effective methods of reducing the amount of criminality,
To perfect the machinery for dealing with criminals.
What are the main Branches of Criminal Science?
Based on these three objectives, three main branches of Criminal Science have developed.
They are:
1. Criminology: concerned with causes of crimes and comprises of two different branches.
1.1. Criminal Biology: This investigates causes of criminality, which may be found in the
mental or physical constitution of the delinquent himself such as hereditary tendencies and
physical defects.
1.2. Criminal Sociology: This deals with enquiries into the effects of environment as a cause
of criminality, such as the objective factors like social, political and economic conditions
leading to criminality, also termed as criminal anthropology.
2. Criminal Policy or Penology: deals with treatment, prevention and control of crimes and it
makes use of the information provided by Criminology.
3. Criminal Law: The Criminal Policies postulated by the above twin sister-branches i.e.
Criminology and Penology, are implemented through the instrumentality of ‘Criminal law’.
Criminal law in its wider sense consists of two branches.
3.1. Substantive Criminal Law: lays down the principles of criminal liability, defines
offences and prescribes punishments for the same.
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, 3.2. Adjective/Procedural Criminal law: it look after the process of the administration and
enforcement of the substantive criminal law.
What are the requirements to the efficient Criminal Law?
A body of special rules regulating human conduct promulgated by state and uniformly
applicable to all classes to which it refers and is enforced by punishment.” It means the
whole body of criminal law to be efficient must have four important elements;
a. Politically: implies that only the violations of rules made by the state are regarded as
crimes.
b. Specificity; connotes that it strictly defines the act to be treated as crime. In other
words, the provisions of criminal law should be stated in specific terms.
c. Uniformity: implies its uniform application to all alike without any discrimination, thus
imparting even-handed justice to all alike. The idea is to eliminate judicial discretion in
the field of administration of criminal justice.
d. Penal sanctions: imposed under the criminal law that the members of society are
deterred from committing crimes. It is, therefore, obvious that no law can be effective
without adequate penal sanctions.
What are the major purpose of criminal law in general?
The objectives of Criminal law are
a. the protection of persons and property,
b. the deterrence of criminal behavior,
c. the punishment of criminal activity and
d. Rehabilitation of the criminal.
What are the major purpose and function of Ethiopian criminal law?
The specific purpose and function of Criminal Law are clearly stated in Art. 1 of the
Criminal Code of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia;
N.B. Function is thus a special activity or task while purpose is the ultimate objective to be
achieved.
Therefore, it follows that the Criminal Code of Ethiopia endeavors to achieve the purpose of
“ensuring order, peace and security of the state and its inhabitants for the public good”
through declaration of forbidden conduct, providing for suitable punishment, reform of
criminals and preventive measures to control the commission of crimes.
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, What is wrong and morality?
A wrong is an act forbidden by the society or when Society prohibits certain activities basing
on the general conscience of the society, which is found in the values and norms of the
society.
The concept of morality explains the values of a particular society. This means that a given
society declares certain acts, which offend the moral conscience of that society as forbidden.
Is the violation of all morality constitutes legal punishment?
Since all violations of morality cannot be characterized as crimes, there is a necessity to
identify the particular class of violations or forbidden acts or wrongs for the purpose of
defining what ‘crime’ is.
wrongs are classified in to two;
a. Legal Wrong: The wrongs prescribed by the criminal law and The state may respond to
any of such acts in two different ways:
Civil Wrong: Where the state takes action against the wrong-doer at the instance of
the injured party and
Criminal Wrong: Where the state by itself proceeds against the wrong-doer, the
wrong is referred to as criminal wrong.
b. Moral Wrong:
What is the Relation between Morality and Criminal Law?
Though morality and law can be precisely distinguished, they are not totally distinct
phenomena.
They are related to each other in that they both aim at maintaining social order. There is a
category of wrongs towards which law and morality react with common hatred. They are
offences like murder, rape, arson, robbery, theft, etc.
What are the basic concepts of Crimes?
There are no easy explanations for the phenomena collectively called crime.
a. Crime is deceiving concept because it covers an enormous range of human behavior.
b. Crime is multi-dimensional: it requires the efforts of all concerned organs
c. To common man crimes are those acts which people in society “consider worthy of
serious condemnation”. Therefore, crime is an act which both forbidden by law and the
moral sentiments of the society.
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CRIMINAL LAW BOOK I short note
Page | 1
, UNIT-I
INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINAL LAW
What is Criminal law?
The definition of a crime has always been regarded as a matter of great difficulty.
Criminal Law is the body of law defining crimes against the community at large, regulating
how suspects are investigated, charged, and tried, and establishing punishments for convicted
criminals.
If so, what is Crime and criminal science?
“Crime” is an offence committed by an individual who is a basic unit of a society.
Therefore, Criminal Science” is a social study. The main aims of Criminal Science are:
To discover the causes of criminality,
To devise the most effective methods of reducing the amount of criminality,
To perfect the machinery for dealing with criminals.
What are the main Branches of Criminal Science?
Based on these three objectives, three main branches of Criminal Science have developed.
They are:
1. Criminology: concerned with causes of crimes and comprises of two different branches.
1.1. Criminal Biology: This investigates causes of criminality, which may be found in the
mental or physical constitution of the delinquent himself such as hereditary tendencies and
physical defects.
1.2. Criminal Sociology: This deals with enquiries into the effects of environment as a cause
of criminality, such as the objective factors like social, political and economic conditions
leading to criminality, also termed as criminal anthropology.
2. Criminal Policy or Penology: deals with treatment, prevention and control of crimes and it
makes use of the information provided by Criminology.
3. Criminal Law: The Criminal Policies postulated by the above twin sister-branches i.e.
Criminology and Penology, are implemented through the instrumentality of ‘Criminal law’.
Criminal law in its wider sense consists of two branches.
3.1. Substantive Criminal Law: lays down the principles of criminal liability, defines
offences and prescribes punishments for the same.
Page | 2
, 3.2. Adjective/Procedural Criminal law: it look after the process of the administration and
enforcement of the substantive criminal law.
What are the requirements to the efficient Criminal Law?
A body of special rules regulating human conduct promulgated by state and uniformly
applicable to all classes to which it refers and is enforced by punishment.” It means the
whole body of criminal law to be efficient must have four important elements;
a. Politically: implies that only the violations of rules made by the state are regarded as
crimes.
b. Specificity; connotes that it strictly defines the act to be treated as crime. In other
words, the provisions of criminal law should be stated in specific terms.
c. Uniformity: implies its uniform application to all alike without any discrimination, thus
imparting even-handed justice to all alike. The idea is to eliminate judicial discretion in
the field of administration of criminal justice.
d. Penal sanctions: imposed under the criminal law that the members of society are
deterred from committing crimes. It is, therefore, obvious that no law can be effective
without adequate penal sanctions.
What are the major purpose of criminal law in general?
The objectives of Criminal law are
a. the protection of persons and property,
b. the deterrence of criminal behavior,
c. the punishment of criminal activity and
d. Rehabilitation of the criminal.
What are the major purpose and function of Ethiopian criminal law?
The specific purpose and function of Criminal Law are clearly stated in Art. 1 of the
Criminal Code of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia;
N.B. Function is thus a special activity or task while purpose is the ultimate objective to be
achieved.
Therefore, it follows that the Criminal Code of Ethiopia endeavors to achieve the purpose of
“ensuring order, peace and security of the state and its inhabitants for the public good”
through declaration of forbidden conduct, providing for suitable punishment, reform of
criminals and preventive measures to control the commission of crimes.
Page | 3
, What is wrong and morality?
A wrong is an act forbidden by the society or when Society prohibits certain activities basing
on the general conscience of the society, which is found in the values and norms of the
society.
The concept of morality explains the values of a particular society. This means that a given
society declares certain acts, which offend the moral conscience of that society as forbidden.
Is the violation of all morality constitutes legal punishment?
Since all violations of morality cannot be characterized as crimes, there is a necessity to
identify the particular class of violations or forbidden acts or wrongs for the purpose of
defining what ‘crime’ is.
wrongs are classified in to two;
a. Legal Wrong: The wrongs prescribed by the criminal law and The state may respond to
any of such acts in two different ways:
Civil Wrong: Where the state takes action against the wrong-doer at the instance of
the injured party and
Criminal Wrong: Where the state by itself proceeds against the wrong-doer, the
wrong is referred to as criminal wrong.
b. Moral Wrong:
What is the Relation between Morality and Criminal Law?
Though morality and law can be precisely distinguished, they are not totally distinct
phenomena.
They are related to each other in that they both aim at maintaining social order. There is a
category of wrongs towards which law and morality react with common hatred. They are
offences like murder, rape, arson, robbery, theft, etc.
What are the basic concepts of Crimes?
There are no easy explanations for the phenomena collectively called crime.
a. Crime is deceiving concept because it covers an enormous range of human behavior.
b. Crime is multi-dimensional: it requires the efforts of all concerned organs
c. To common man crimes are those acts which people in society “consider worthy of
serious condemnation”. Therefore, crime is an act which both forbidden by law and the
moral sentiments of the society.
Page | 4
