Today, current criminal law does not completely fulfill the tasks set forth in Article 1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (CC of Ukraine), i.e., essentially, it is not fully compliant with the principles of law and, therefore, is incapable of efficiently ensuring the legal basis for the protection of human and civil rights and freedoms, and, respectively – incapable of fulfilling the main task: ensuring by legal means of safe existence of society. Presently, it is crucial to carve out a modern law-making algorithm which would allow creating efficient and high-quality law fully compliant with the principles of law, not only for modern needs but also for future generations, this task being especially urgent in the context of working on the creation of the new Criminal Code.

The article aims at developing and proposing the use of a new approach to law-making in the area of modern criminal law: formulation of the bioethics principles and their introduction into the domain of science as the dominant source of criminal law, and their implementation in the theoretical models of relevant provisions of criminal law and some other provisions. Such an approach can give a new vector to the development of criminal law, as well as of criminal legislation. It is likely that over time the concept of “bioethics”, which is essentially neo jus naturale, will replace the concept of “natural law”.

In the study, along with the classical methods of cognition, the author also uses the research methods not typical for criminal law: idealistic dialectics, “tragic dialectics”, existentialism, phenomenology, Gestalt approach, and the synergetic method.

The article identifies and clarifies the content of bioethical principles which are generally reflected in international regulatory legal acts without a clear formulation. The principles of bioethics include: 1) principle of ecocentrism; 2) principle of altruism; 3) principle of transparency; 4) principle of rationalism; 5) principle of balance; 6) principle of restrictions; 7) principle of life safety; 8) principle of realism.

The author examines the correlations between the bioethics principles and the provisions of criminal law. It is established that jus naturale and bioethics are identical phenomena, but the latter, due to its formalization (formulated principles), is more convenient in terms of law application.

 Having comprehensively analyzed CC of Ukraine for compliance of its provisions with the bioethics principles, it is concluded that at large, the General Part is consistent with the principles of bioethics. As for the Special Part, it has some gaps in terms of resolving of current criminal law dilemmas related to bioethics which, as the author suggests, should be eliminated by relevant amendments to the text of law. It is expected that law-making in the domain of criminal law, which will rest upon the principles of updated natural law and ecocentrism, will contribute to the resolution of today’s challenging issue and prevent its occurrence in the future, in particular: inconsistency of the task declared by article 1 of CC of Ukraine, which is to ensure the legal basis for the protection of human and civil rights and freedoms, with the actual situation regarding protection of these rights; at the same time, the author highlights the need for bioethization not only of criminal law provisions but of the entire national law system, which should result in the efficient and high-quality basis for human and civil rights and freedoms, the ensured safety of existence of society, as well as harmonization of the national law system with the European traditions of law-making.

Bibliography

Authored books

1. Potter V R, Global bioethics: building on the Leopold Legacy (Michigan 1988) (in English).

2. Potter V R, Bioethics: Bridge to the future (Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall 1971) (in English). 3. Trynova Yа, Bioethics and Law: some interaction aspect (overview) (Lambert Academic Publishing 2017) (in English).

4. Rerih N, Zhivaja jetika [Living Ethics] (Izd dom Shalvy Amonashvili 1999) (in Russian).

5. Kostenko O, Kultura i zakon u protydii zlu [Culture and Law in Countering Evil] (Atika 2008) (in Ukrainian).

Journal articles

6. Goldim J R, ‘Revisiting the beginning of bioethics: The contribution of Fritz Jahr (1927)’ [2009] 52(3) Perspective in Biology and Medicine 377–80 (in English).

7. Trynova Ya and Kuts V, ‘Right to life human embryos: criminal law aspects’ (2017) ІІ International science book. Law Economics Management 268–73 (in English).

8. Trynova Ya, ‘Legal providing problems in using the newest technologies’ (2017) 3 Supremația Dreptului 178–83 (in English).

9. Orlean A, ‘Vplyv bioetyky na formuvannia ta rozvytok kryminalno-pravovykh norm’ [‘Influence of Bioethics on the Formulation and Development of Criminal Law Provisions’] (2013) 4 Visnyk Natsionalnoi akademii pravovykh nauk Ukrainy 198–204 (in Ukrainian).

10. Trynova Ya, ‘Jus naturale – bioetyka – neo jus naturale: evoliutsiia pryrodnoho prava’ [‘Jus naturale – bioethics – neo jus naturale: the evolution of natural law’] (2014) Yurydychna Ukraina 14–20 (in Ukrainian).

Thesis

11. Yehorova V, ‘Kryminalizatsiia nezakonnoho provedennia doslidiv nad liudyno yoho kryminalno-pravovi oznaky’ [‘Criminalization of Illegal Experiments on an Individual and its Indicia under Criminal Law’] (avtoref dys kand yuryd nauk, 2010) (in Ukrainian).