Faculty Workshop – John Hasnas

John Hasnas (Georgetown/ GISME) will present a paper titled “Second Thoughts about First Principles: A Critique of the Contemporary Conception of the Principle of Legality.” Guests are welcome. Lunch will be provided. To reserve a spot, please email the director of the institute, Michael Douma ().

This event will be held in the Hariri building, room 570 from 12:00 to 1:30.

Abstract: The principle of legality is currently understood as a ban on criminal punishment unless one’s conduct violates a criminal statute–that is, as a ban on common law crime. Because the principle prevents judges from imposing criminal punishment at their whim, it is seen as a obvious good. This article argues that this is far from obvious. I show that the common law of crime was, in fact, much more limited that the current regime of statutory crime, and that the loosening of the restrictions imposed by the common law is partially responsible for the contemporary crisis of overcriminaliztion.