The Effect of Ignorance of Law on Criminal Responsibility from Imamieh Jurisprudence Perspective

A well known rule in criminal law is ‘ignorance of law is not a defence’. It means that the ignorance of law has no effect, on criminality and responsibility, although the ignorance of fact removes criminal responsibility. The rule ‘ignorance of law is not a defence’ has been doubted in some criminal systems, among them is Islamic criminal system. In this regard, different ideas have been expressed in Imamieh jurisprudence. Some of the ideas consider the rule as to prevent criminality and responsibility, some other consider it as to be uninfluenced and the others consider it as to remove criminal responsibility in limited conditions. Although, it should be stated that none of these ideas has been specified limitation of such an effect. Nowadays ignorance of law is one of the critical issues in individual, social, national and international relationships. The rule seems to be an uncertain and undetermined presumption. Although, this matter is encountered with more doubt in Imamieh jurisprudence, since there is no special principle to restrict its realm. In this essay, at first the rule and its grounds are to be reviewed. Then with regard to religious and rational principles the realm of rule in different crimes is to be defined and non-admissibility of the ignorance of law is to be balanced by valid religious and rational grounds.