Proposal for a General Part of a New Penal Law — Introduction

This being a presentation of a legislative enactment, not explanatory notes or a commentary on its provisions and certainly not a theoretical, comprehensive analysis of the topics considered therein, it is bound to be most concise and selective. The reader will thus encounter below a brief reference to the main subjects dealt with by the Proposal, with emphasis on the significance of proposed solutions. The reasons why Israel requires a new penal code, generally, and, for a start, its Preliminary and General Parts, in particular, are inherent both in the process whereby the existing Law has developed, and the quality of that Law. Israeli criminal law suffers from old age. Its direct source is the Criminal Code of Cyprus of 1928; the latter having been copied, with certain changes, from the Queensland Code of 1899, which for the most part reflected the judicial decisions of English common law, some of which were formed many years previously, and are largely outdated. Scientific standards have changed and progressed.