Stefano Manacorda

Criminal Law Protection of Cultural Heritage: An International Perspective

For more than 50 years – and a good deal longer in certain areas – the international community has exerted considerable efforts to protect the world’s cultural heritage in its various facets. These efforts, whether to protect movable or immovable assets, reflects their importance which far transcends their mere economic value, since they represent a significant expression of the history and traditions of nations, reflected in the concrete choices that the law is required to address. Further strong calls for juridical protection have also arisen since the end of the colonial era with the growing demands of States that were victims of despoliation in earlier centuries, demanding restitution of their assets and works of global importance that had been appropriated, often in highly questionable ways.

Public Policy and the Court of Justice: The “Combinatorial Logic” in the Framework of Criminal Law

Introductory remarks: public policy, limitation or vector of European criminal law integration? I. The unstable equilibrium between Community public policy and national criminal law – A. General public policy clauses recognised by the Treaties: a polysemous and flexible concept. B. The restrictive approach of the Court of Justice: autonomous meaning and strict interpretation. C. The dynamics of interpretation and the concerns for national criminal law. II. In search of the method of the Courts reasoning: a “combinatorial logic” – A. The criterion of appropriateness in relation to legitimate purpose: the variable application of free movement. B. The criterion of the seriousness of the threat and individual conduct. C. The test of proportionality and non discrimination laid down by the Court. Concluding remarks.

The Taricco saga: A risk or an opportunity for European Criminal Law?

On 8 September 2015, a new chapter opened in the history of European Criminal Law as a consequence of the judgment issued by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Justice in the Taricco case. As a background hereto, the complex series of judicial decisions that have taken place must be recalled, by stressing the role played – among others – by the Italian Constitutional Court and the European Court of Justice (I). On such a basis, a comparative overview will allow us to identify some of the essential legal dilemmas at stake by focusing on the different conceptions surrounding the legal regime of time limitation for criminal offences and the wider implications arising therefrom (II). Apart from the divergence of perspectives which arises between the Italian and European judges, the judicial saga represents a turn in the history of the so-called European Criminal Law which deserves to be analysed.