Extract

Traditionally, criminal law was regarded as deeply rooted in a country’s social mores and cultural preferences, defying transnational assimilation and harmonization. The purpose of studying and comparing foreign systems of criminal justice was therefore seen as academic rather than practical: looking at other nations’ criminal laws was to help better understand and put into context one’s own laws; comparison could also demonstrate the relativity of legal solutions to social problems (cf. Eser, 1998, pp. 1510–20; Pradel, 2008, p. 11; Beck, 2011, pp. 67–72; Kremnitzer, 2011, pp. 30–32). Criminal courts, in contrast to their civil counterparts, do not normally apply foreign criminal law. When they have jurisdiction over an offence they will apply domestic law, both substantive and procedural. There are only a few exceptional situations when foreign law has to be taken into account. In many legal systems, an offender who has acted outside the jurisdiction of the forum state will be punished only if the act in question is criminal both in the forum state and in the state where it was committed.