El principio de legalidad en materia penal (análisis del artículo 14, párrafo tercero, de la Constitución mexicana)

Abstract

This paper reviews the principle of legality and the principle of “legal reserve” on criminal matters, as established in the third paragraph of article 14 of our Constitution. This analysis is made through the perspective of three principles: legal reserve, legal certainty in criminal matters and the prohibition of analogy as a method of interpretation. These three principles are fundamental to the composition of a protective form of interpretation of the Constitution, which is the central subject of this document.
In addition, it addresses the possibility to applying the principle of proportionality to the criminal laws as a legislative limit on criminal matters.