'Contra Legem'

In several judgments of the Court of Justice the term contra legem is used as expressing the boundaries of the principle of conforming interpretation. The question is what it exactly means and whether it can easily be applied by national courts that have to deal with situations in which a Directive or Framework Decision has not been implemented correctly or completely into the national criminal justice system. On the one hand the Court instructs national courts to interpret national law in conformity with the Union legal instrument. On the other, it states that this should not lead to a contra legem interpretation. This leads to confusion among national criminal courts, which may take the prohibition to interpret contra legem as a rule replacing the rule that Union law prevails over national law.

Lees verder:

• Contra Legem door A. Klip in European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice 22 (2014) p.105-113