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18
PARTONE.Generalpartofcriminallaw
§5Lexcriminalisseveriorretrononagitprinciple
Itisafundamentalprincipleofcriminallawthatastrictercriminallaw
(i.e.onethatintroducesacriminalofenceoraggravatesit)cannotoperate
retroactively.5Tismeansthatsuchalawmayonlyapplytoactscom-
mittedaferitsentryintoforce.InthePolishlegalorder,astatuteenters
intoforceattheearliestwhenitispromulgated,andatthelatestaferthe
lapseofthevacatiolegisspecifiedinthatstatute(i.e.theperiodfromthe
momentofitspublicationuntilitbecomesbinding).
If,aferthecommissionofacriminalofence,thecriminallawismade
moresevere,thenthelawpreviouslyinforce,asbeingmorerelativetothe
ofender,appliestosuchofence(Article4§1CriminalCodeof1997).If,
aferthefinaladjudicationoftheofence,amoreseverelawentersinto
force,whichprovidesforamoreseverepenaltyforthesameactthanthe
oneimposedinthejudgement,thensuchpenaltyinthejudgementshall
notbeincreased.
Incontrast,itisnotexcludedthatacriminallawmitigatingcriminal
liabilitycoversactsthatwerecommittedbeforethedateofitsentryinto
force.Tisreferstosituationsinwhich,aferanofencehasbeencom-
mitted,therehasbeenachangeinthelawthatmitigatedcriminalre-
sponsibilityforit.Insuchasituation,thenewlawapplies(Article4§1of
theCriminalCodeof1997).Ifthechangeinthelaw,whichinvolvesthe
mitigationofcriminalresponsibility,occurredaferthefinaljudgement
oftheofence,thefinaljudgementmaybereviewed.Tisoccurswhen
themostseverepunishmentprovidedfortheofenceinthenewlawis
lighterthanthepunishmentimposedinthejudgement.Insuchacase,
thesentenceimposedinthejudgementisreducedtotheupperlimit
possibletobeimposedunderthenewlaw(Article4§2CriminalCode
of1997).Inextremecases,itmayevenbethecasethattheactjudgedin
5
Onthesubjectofchangeofcriminallawandtheprinciplesofintertemporallaw
incriminallaw,seeW
.Wróbel,Zmiananormatywnairegułyintertemporalnewprawie
karnym,Kraków2003.
