Criminalising Harmful Conduct: The Harm Principle, Its Limits and Continental Counterparts

This book explores the issue of legitimate criminalization in a modern, liberal society. It argues that criminalization, as one of the most intrusive state interventions into the autonomous sphere of the individual, should be limited by normative principles, defining the substance of what can be legitimately proscribed. Coverage provides a comparative study between two major criminal legal systems and its theories: the Anglo-American, on one side, and the Continental criminal legal system of Germanic legal circle, on the other. In addition, the book offers a model structure of the ideal criminalization in respect of the principles and other criteria that should be followed to render the outcome justifiable. Legal scholars interested in criminology, criminal law and legal philosophy will greatly value this book.