NULLUM CRIMEN [NULLA PEONA] SINE LEGE means that only the law can define a crime and a penalty.
The principle of legality suggests that the scope of the crime and the applicable punishment must be set out in clear terms prior its commission.
As fundamental defense in criminal law, a penalty cannot stand without finding support from a law in other words a prohibition must come first before punishment.
In article 11(2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as in virtually all human rights treaties and national constitutions: ‘No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed’.
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