The Judge's Powers in Halting the Execution of Punishment and the Role of the Court of Cassation: A Comparative Study.

The principle of the legality of crimes and punishments first appeared in the second half of the eighteenth century at the hands of Cesare Beccaria, as a rebellion against the severity of punishments and the arbitrariness of judges, who combined legislative and judicial authority and enjoyed absolute freedom in determining actions and choosing punishments. It was customary for punishments to be imposed on defendants according to the whims of the ruler and based on their social status and class; therefore, when it first appeared, the principle of legality was associated with the adoption of a single standardized punishment and the confiscation of all powers previously held by judges. This continued until Napoleon issued the Penal Code in 1810 after declaring himself Emperor, making some modifications to the application of the principle of legality, which had been adopted by the French National Assembly in 1789 in its Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Among these modifications was his removal of the single-penalty concept and stipulation of dual penalties for most crimes. Indeed, judges were recognized as having this authority through legislative mechanisms that included provisions for dual penalties and discretionary penalties, as well as the introduction of mitigating circumstances, allowing the judge to impose a sentence below the prescribed minimum penalty.