Forseeable development in the connection between illegality and guilt

Abstract

Two trends have attempted to define penal illegality (actus reus general defences). The first conceives it as what is in opposition to law, and the second trend supports that it’s the injury of the legally protected interest. Even though the second stance seems to have prevailed, setting up a clear distinction between illegality and guilt, the view implied in the first trend, that equates it with an infraction of a rule, has currently seen a growing number of supporters, with which the line between both views is more blurred each time. The aforementioned brings consequences to the Criminal Law as a whole.