The duties of criminalization under international law in the practice of Italian judges: an overview

A distinctive feature of the judicial application of international norms on criminalization in Italy is the underlying tension between openness to international law and safeguarding the principle of legality in criminal matters. The present contribution, therefore, aims to provide an overview of the ways this tension concretely unfolds in the practice of Italian courts. It will analyze, notably, the cases where (i) international norms on criminalization are resorted to for the purposes of consistent interpretation; (ii) Italian judges are asked to implement international norms envisaging duties of criminalization in the absence of national legislation to this effect; and (iii) international norms on duties of criminalization are applied in civil proceedings.