The principle of legality in criminal law[1] was developed in the eighteenth century by the Italian criminal lawyer Cesare Beccaria and holds that no one can be convicted of a crime without a previously published legal text which clearly describes the crime (Latin: nulla poena sine lege, lit.
This principle is accepted and codified in modern democratic states as a basic requirement of the rule of law.
[2] In Brazil, the Principle of legality (Brazilian Portuguese: Princípio da legalidade) is enshrined in the Constitution in Article 5, paragraph 2, which states that "No one shall be compelled to do or refrain from doing anything except by law".
[clarification needed] The principle of legality is also mentioned in Article 11g:[5] "Every defendant has a right to not be found guilty of an action or omission which, at the moment it took place, did not constitute an infraction under the internal law of Canada..." Article 11g does however make an exception for crimes unanimously considered in international law to be genocide or crimes against humanity.
[6] Member states of the Council of Europe (all internationally recognized countries in Europe except Belarus, Russia, and Vatican City, plus Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, and Georgia) are parties to Article 7 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which prohibits punishment for acts or omissions which were not crimes at the time of their commission, as well as punishment in excess of the penalty available at the time.