Doctrine as a Source of Criminal Law

Abstract

The author raises the problem of polynormativity in criminal law. Rules and principles of international law, the Constitution of the Russian Federation, decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, rules of federal sectoral (noncriminal law) legislation, decisions of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, judicial precedent, attributed by some lawyers to auxiliary sources of criminal law, are sometimes supplemented by another source of such kind – criminal law doctrine.

Considering the doctrine as an additional source of criminal law, the author concludes that its role is multidimensional in relation to criminal law. Thus, the doctrine has a noticeable impact on the lawmaking, and also affects the content of offiial interpretive documents, which include decisions of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. In addition, it is impossible to do without the most signifiant provisions of the doctrine when applying the norms of criminal law. The presence in the criminal law of such purely doctrinal concepts as «social danger», «corpus delicti», «direct intent in the formal corpus delicti» without disclosing their content does not leave the law enforcement offier with any other options other than turning to legal literature.

The author did not have the goal to elevate the doctrine above other additional sources of criminal law or to equate it in importance with criminal law. The article only shows its relationship with the named legal sources and draws attention to the inevitability of recognizing its role in the application of criminal law.