Non-Classical Extraterritoriality of Criminal Law (in Context of the Federal Law of May 5, 2014 № 91-FZ)

Abstract

The paper studies the issue of widening Russian criminal law jurisdiction based on the Federal Law ofMay 5, 2014 № 91-FZ under the title On Applying the Provisions of Criminal Caw of the Russian Federationand the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation on the territories of the Republic ofCrimea and the City of Federal Status Sebastopol. Within the normative legal act, legislators rejectedthe traditional way of the differentiated fixture of the principles of criminal law in time and space by unifyingthem in the text of the conflict-of-law rule. Historically, both in Russian and foreign criminal law, theanalogues of such a decision, which aggravated with incorrect legal mechanics regulation, has causedan ambiguous interpretation of the conflict-of-law rule produced by Article 2 of the Federal Law mentioned.Judicial practice applies the prescription in question only in terms of retrospective criminal law.Judicial opinions lack any traces of the aspect of territorial jurisdiction. This interpretation is seen incorrectdue to the impossibility to apply it to the legal relations connected with the Federal Law mentionedand with rules Articles 11 and 12 of the Russian Federation Criminal Code. Hence, without the FederalLaw mentioned, the Criminal Code of Russian Federation is not applied to the deeds committed onthe territories of the Republic of Crimea and the City of Sebastopol before March 18th, 2014. Thus,the doctrinal interpretation of norm of Article 2 of Federal Law № 91-FZ as a dualistic time and spaceconflict-of-law rule is seen more realistic as it is based on the analysis of classical patterns of normativeprescriptions. The author criticizes the legislative regulation in Article 2 of the Federal Law mentioneddue to the lack of legal mechanics, material inner conceptual contradictions, inconsistency between thedualistic approach and the classical postulates of the Russian legal theory of criminal law. On the basis of analysis of Russian and foreign legislation as well as judicial practice, the author proposes his ownversion of Article 2 for the Federal Law № 91-FZ.