Le radici della formula di Radbruch nella "Filosofia del diritto” del 1932, tra giustizia, legalità e pena

The paper reconstructs the connections between Radbruch’s formula and the conception of law developed by the author in his Philosophy of Law (1932). In considering these links, it first highlights the unresolved tension between justice and the principle of legality, which may result in an exceptional limitation of the principle of non-retroactivity. Secondly, it demonstrates how this tension also influences the components of the theory of punishment in Radbruch’s analysis, culminating in his well-known prognosis concerning the eventual replacement of criminal law by 'something better'.