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Suicide and the Law
77
hibitions related not only to the types of conduct that would be punishable but also what punishment was liable to be imposed. Any conduct which a powerful section of the community felt to be injurious or harmful to its own interests, or endangering its safety, comfort or stability was regarded as heinous; it was repressed with deterrent severity by the authority in power.
“Crimes therefore originate in the government policy of the moment, the governing power in society at any given period has made or accepted, rules of law which forbid a man to bring about certain specified results by his conduct. Since the policy is influenced by many considerations, it is not easy to discover in any specific era of new law."1
In a changing society, notions of what is objectionable have always been changing. Prevention or punishment of particular conduct is dependent upon the scope and purpose of the criminal law that is in force for the time being. W. Friedmann has referred to the German Criminal Law which made a crime predominantly dependent upon the policy of the state. Act of 1935 under the Nazi regime stated : “Any person who commits any act which the law declares to be punishable or which is deserving of penalty according to the fundamental conceptions of a penal law and sound popular feeling shall be punished.”. He has also quoted from the Penal Code, 1926 of Soviet Russia which provides that “a crime is any socially dangerous act or commission which threatens the foundations of the Soviet political structure and that system of the law which has been established by the workers and Peasants Government for the period of transition to a communist structure."3 It is obvious that changes in the law in such manner obviously give a political direction to what is otherwise a measure for the protection and safety of the society. .
1. Kenny's Outlines of Criminal Law, edited by Turner, p. 14. 2. Law in a Changing Society by W. Friedmann, p. 55. 3. Ibid., p. 56.
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