Prilog kritici Radbruhove formule
A Contribution to the Criticism of Radbruch's Formula

Summary/Abstract: In his lecture Bernd Schinemann sets up criteria for a definition of law that would prevent escape from justice of perpetrators of crimes in non-democratic and totalitarian regimes. In this context Schinemann critically evaluates Gustav Radbruch’s theory on relationship between definitions of law and justice. Radbruch’s formula’s specific function is to stress that if one is to declare particular pieces of legislation of a former legal system null and void, then one could base criminal persecution of past crimes only on pieces of old legislation that are still considered to be in force. German courts used this doctrine after WW 2 as basis for criminal proceedings against persons accused for perpetrating crimes in the times of Nazism and during subsequent Communist rule in German Democratic Republic. Schinemann on the other hand provides arguments that demonstrate weaknesses of Radbruch’s formula. He maintains that public communication of rules and compatibility of such publicly communicated rules with the culture of a particular society provide a more reliable basis for defining the law and criminal persecution of crimes perpetrated in non-democratic societies. Law is the sum of legal values and rules of conduct recognized in a particular society.

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