A study on whether providing for General Principles and Rules of Penal Law in Criminal Codes is Necessary(Case study of Dar Rule in the Islamic Penal Code of 2013)

Penal policymakers do not provide for general principles and rules of penal law such as nullum crimen, nulla poena sine lege, principle of individualization of penalties and the rule of interpretation in favor of the accused in criminal codes; since the content and foundations of these principles and rules have been recognized a priori. However, in some cases, the legislator has provided for them in criminal codes taking into account certain considerations and in order to modify the general principles and rules of penal law. The Dar Rule (avoiding corruptions takes priority over gaining benefits), is one of the important and applied rules in the area of jurisprudence and law. This rule has been provided for in articles 120 and 121 of the Islamic Penal Code of 2013 for the first time. The contents of these articles indicate that the legislator has adopted a new approach towards this rule in the above said act which is in contradiction with the general principles and rules of penal law.In this paper, besides elaborating on whether providing for general principles and rules of penal law in criminal codes is necessary, the reason why the Dar Rule has been provided for in the Islamic Penal Code of 2013 and its contradiction with  the general principles and rules of criminal law have been analyzed and subsequently, in addition to criticizing and evaluating the new signification of the Dar Rule in the above said Code, the way court decisions deal with this rule has been taken into account.