AS THE BLANK CRIMINAL LAW AND THE PRINCIPLE OF LEGALITY: ANALYSIS OF THE ARTICLE 208 OF BRAZILIAN CRIMINAL CODE
ANÁLISE DO ART. 208 DO CÓDIGO PENAL BRASILEIRO
Abstract
In the present work, we propose to investigate the article 208 of Brazilian Penal Code, an incriminating penal law that brings in its content some elementaries that are not easy to be understood by Law operator. In attempting to protect religious feelings, legislators had chosen to use theological terms that often escape the interpreters understanding and lead them to misunderstandings. Some mistakes about sacred or religious elements lead jurists not to punish prejudices of religious order and to incriminate conducts that in themselves do not violate the legal object protected by the norm of article 208. For the reason that is not ordinary the existence of judicial experts in theological matters, magistrates need to interpret that norm according to their traditions or ideas about what is sacred or religious. We understand the nature of the mentioned article 208 as a blank criminal law, although we hardly believe that one day a complementary norm will be elaborated, once ordinarily legislator and administrator do not dominate the object of theological studies. However, as the definition of a blank criminal law points to the one that needs a complementary law - and since the theological norm is a source one, different from the original - we identify the necessity for a heterogeneous blank penal norm. Once we are understanding the nature of the norm of article 208, it will be possible to investigate its adequacy to the constitutional principles of Legality, Legal Reserve and Freedom.
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