Minority in the Criminal Codes (1864-2021). Brief history of legal vocabulary: from cocoons to minors, from skill to discernment, from mistake to crime and from moderate quarrels to educational measures

Abstract

The manner în which the legal vocabulary supported the clarity of legal norms and the traditional elements of juvenile criminal liability (age of criminal liability, different sanctions in amount and nature) ensured a more organic assimilation of the novelties at the entry into force of each penal code. At the same time, starting with 1864, the answers given by the legislator, more or less explicitly, to questions related to the right balance between the best interests of the child and the interest of society in reducing crime, depended on experiences arising from the implementation of Codes and the consistency of the case law with the rationale of the law.

The present material aims to explain the meaning of legislative evolution and, implicitly, the reasons for giving up some criminal policy solutions, in order to facilitate future legislative steps in this field.