Principles of Criminal Legislation in Postmodern Society: The Case of Environmental Law

Comparing the US and Germany with respect to the basic principles behind legislative measures in the field of criminal law reveals a considerable similarity. While in the US causation of social harm or danger of social harm are necessary requirements for punishing conduct, in Germany it is the violation of a legal interest ("Rechtsgut"). As a consequence, the legitimacy of an environmental law is questionable within postmodern fun and consumer society. Because the consumption of natural resources under the economic conditions of unleashed global capitalism in its huge dimensions is mostly legal, it is not feasible to see the environment as the genuine legal interest the criminal law has to protect. In view of contemporary reality which will inevitably result in an ecological Holocaust this paper argues for a distribution of goods based on principles of natural law: each generation has to pass on the natural resources to the next generation in a condition which has not been deteriorated compared to the condition it was obtained from a prior generation. Therefore, disproportionate consumption of non-renewable resources or wasting renewable resources are offenses by natural law which are of much more significance than the property order of produced goods and the corresponding offense of theft.