Lex Specialis in Criminal Law; Principle and Logic

The "lex specialis derogat legi generali" in Iranian criminal law is facing three major challenges: First, lex specialis, especially its main symbol in Iranian criminal law, i.e. the "general law enacted after a special law", causes the invalidity of general principles of criminal law. Second, lex specialis in Iranian criminal law is not based on any law, but at the same time, it has more force in the judicial precedent. Thirdly, the history of lex specialis has been brought up with the principles of religious jurisprudence, especially Iranian private law, but without being compatible with the nature of criminal law, it has entered this field as well. Using library resources, regulations and judicial precedent, this article deals with the ratio of the lex specialis and nature of criminal law by descriptive analytical approach, and has come to the conclusion that in case of conflict between the general and special criminal law (either "general law enacted after a special law" or "special law enacted after a general law"), the general and special verbal rules in the principles of religious jurisprudence do not apply, and the general principles of criminal law apply except in cases where lex specialis has a logical justification; It means that it is not enough to be specific, but the special law must have a rational and logical justification in order to be able to stand against the power of the general principles of criminal law and throw them out of the generality.