The principle of ''in dubio pro reo'' (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for "

hen Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman. Hen, HEN or Hens may also refer to: Places Norway *Hen, Buskerud, a village in R ...

in doubt, rule for the accused") means that a defendant may not be convicted by the court when doubts about their guilt remain. The rule of lenity is the doctrine that ambiguity should be resolved in favour of the more lenient punishment. To resolve all doubts in favour of the accused is in consonance with the principle of

presumption of innocence The presumption of innocence is a legal principle that every person Accused (law), accused of any crime is considered innocent until proven guilt (law), guilty. Under the presumption of innocence, the legal burden of proof is thus on the Prosecut ...

Origin

The main principle in the sentence was part of

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

's interpretation of the law and shaped the

Roman law Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (), to the (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I. Roman law also den ...

: ''Favorabiliores rei potius quam actores habentur'' ('' Digest'' of

Justinian I Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

, D.50.17.125), meaning "The condition of the defendant is to be favored rather than that of the plaintiff." However, the phrase was not spelled out word for word until the

Milanese Milanese (endonym in traditional orthography , ) is the central variety of the Western dialect of the Lombard language spoken in Milan, the rest of its metropolitan city, and the northernmost part of the province of Pavia. Milanese, due to t ...

jurist Egidio Bossi (1487–1546) related it in his treatises.

National peculiarities

German law The law of Germany (), that being the modern German legal system (), is a system of civil law which is founded on the principles laid out by the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, though many of the most important laws, for example ...

, the principle is not codified but has constitutional status and is derived from Article 103(2) of the

Basic Law A basic law is either a codified constitution, or in countries with uncodified constitutions, a law designed to have the effect of a constitution. The term ''basic law'' is used in some places as an alternative to "constitution" and may be inte ...

, Article 6 of the ECHR, and Section 261 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The common use of the phrase in the German legal tradition was documented in 1631 by Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld. In

Canadian law The legal system of Canada is pluralist: its foundations lie in the English common law system (inherited from its period as a colony of the British Empire), the French civil law system (inherited from its French Empire past), and Indigenous ...

, the leading case establishing how to decide criminal cases where the guilt of the accused depends on contradictory witness accounts is '' R. v. W.(D.)'' (1991).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:In Dubio Pro Reo Criminal procedure Legal rules with Latin names Doubt

Origin

National peculiarities

See also

References

External links