Structure

• What are the two powers that our criminal law is structured around?

  1. Declaratory Power: The special part. Provides the details of particular crimes and arranges them into families of offences.
  2. Retributive Power: The general power. Consists of those general principles of criminal liability that apply, or ought to apply to all crimes.
• How is harm defined respective of retributive power?

  Consists of other-regarding conduct which infringes the moral autonomy of others.
• What are the three categories of offences in liberal political morality?

  1. Crimes against the person.
  2. Crimes against property.
  3. Crimes against the state.
• What is and is not the proper meter for crime?

  The proper meter for crime is not morality. It is political morality. All crimes ought to be grave violations of political morality and all grave crimes of political morality should be crimes.
• Crimes against the state consist of what?

  Crimes against the state consist of the offences of treason and sedition that aim to protect the state as the custodian and agent of morality of the political community.
• What are the two distinctions of our law and what does that distinction allow us to do?

  They are:

  1. Malum in se: Wrong by nature.
  2. Malum prohibitum: Wrong on the grounds that they happen to be prohibited by some statute.

  These distinctions allow us to (1) make judgements with respect to the relative importance of each and the many prohibitions which comprise our law and (2) demands that we identify and justify the measure on which the importance of laws ought to be appraised.
• What does malum in se and malum prohibitum do?

  Prohibits criminalising conduct that does not substantially offend the morality of equality.
• What are the four principles of liberal political morality?

  1. Criminal law should be used and only used to ensure persons for substantial wrongdoings.
  2. Criminal laws should be enforced with respect for equal treatments and proportionality.
  3. Persons accused of substantial wrongdoing ought to be afforded the protections appropriate to those charged with criminal offences.
  4. Maximum sentences and effective sentence levels should be proportionate to the seriousness of the wrongdoing.