Instituțiile iertării, amnistiei și grațierii în dreptul canonic și dreptul penal. Aspecte comparative
Forgiveness, Amnesty and Pardon in the Canon Law and the Criminal Law. Comparative Aspects

Author(s): Cosmin Santi
Subject(s): Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, Criminal Law, Canon Law / Church Law, Comparative Law
Published by: Universul Juridic
Keywords: canon law; criminal law; forgiveness; amnesty; pardon; power; jurisdiction;
Summary/Abstract: Forgiveness is the attribute of God’s endless love and is seen in the church law as a pastoral and canon aspect, whereas the criminal law approaches forgiveness as an aspect of clemency and goodwill, under the form of amnesty and pardon. As institution and legal act, canon forgiveness finds its correspondent in the Criminal Code in relation to the legal institution of amnesty, which represents removal of the criminal liability for the act committed. Moreover, every time it occurs subsequent to conviction, it also removes the enforcement of the sentence ruled and all other conviction-related consequences. In addition, it also corresponds to the legal institution of the pardon, which entails in itself the aspect of forgiveness and clemency resulting in the full or partial elimination of the enforcement of the conviction or even the commutation of such sentence to a less severe one. In canon law, forgiveness as a procedural act is granted by the relevant canon authority (The Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church) only individually, whereas the state law provides that amnesty and pardon should be granted both collectively, in compliance with an organic law, by the Parliament, and individually (pardon) by the President of Romanian who issues a presidential pardoning decree. The right to amnesty and pardon refers to the power and the possibility to forgive and is a corollary of the right to punish and sanction. Forgiveness and pardon are an expression of the mercy and the generosity transcending the legal or formal justice, as justice out of faith is a work of grace that goes beyond the legal formalism and the juridical normativity.

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