THE LEGALITY OF CRIMINALIZATION AND THE HISTORICAL EXCEPTION AT NÜRNBERG: A DOCTRINAL REASSESSMENT

Abstract

This research reveals the general context of the principle of criminal legality in the architecture of the modern legal order, analyzed through the prism of its axiological foundation, which constitutes an essential guarantee of legal certainty and, implicitly, an instrument for preventing arbitrariness. The general issue focuses on the Nürnberg trials, approached from the perspective of a deeply philosophical derogation from the fundamental principle of criminal law nullum crimen sine lege, nulla poena sine lege. The paper addresses, from a theoretical and legal perspective, one of the most complex dilemmas of international criminal law - the relationship between criminal legality, as a fundamental guarantee of criminal law that protects the individual against arbitrariness, and the need to punish crimes against peace, humanity, and war in the absence of a pre-existing legal norm that clearly establishes the criminalization and punishment for such acts. The purpose of the research is to reevaluate the Nürnberg exception, which represented a turning point in light of subsequent developments in international criminal law. The results of the research directly highlight the fact that the Nürnberg exception did not actually undermine the principle of criminal legality but expanded its content, paving the way for the development of contemporary international criminal law and the strengthening of individual criminal responsibility for heinous international crimes. Therefore, the research highlights the role of the principle of criminal legality as an axiological foundation and guarantee of legal order, while also emphasizing the need for a nuanced understanding of it in contemporary international criminal law, where the balance between legality and moral equity remains a topical theoretical and practical issue.