The philosophy of criminal law and the principle of legality in the age of enlightenment

Enlightenment brought about the transformation of the basic concepts and principles of criminal law. One of the principles of criminal law affected by this transformation has been the principle of legality. Although traces of this principle were followed before the Age of Enlightenment, the basis of the present meaning and content of the principle was laid in this period. In this study, as a part of the great intellectual revolution in the Age of Enlightenment, the contributions of the Enlightenment philosophers to the philosophy of criminal law have been examined. The principle of legality, which was firstly transferred into the statutory law in a systematic and holistic way in this period, has also been handled. The subject of the study is directly related to many fields such as law, philosophy, sociology and history. However, considering that each of these fields has a comprehensive content even within itself, it was approved to limit the study to the field of the philosophy of criminal law in order not to exceed the limits of the master thesis and not to deviate from law.