Krasheninnikova N.A.

The article deals with the historical and legal analysis of the punishment (its essence, purposes and principles of appointment) in colonial and post-colonial India, the main criminal-penological models, and the development of certain types of punishments and their legislative regulation in the Indian Penal Code of 1860.

In the article, a technical legal analysis of the sub-institution of general exceptions in the Indian Penal Code of 1860 is carried out. These circumstances are provided for the purpose of humanization and individualization of criminal law regulation. On the basis of statutory norms (definitions, conditions of lawfulness, etc.) and the precedent decisions of both Indian and English courts, the main characteristics of the system of general defences are examined. In the first part of this article, emphasis is placed on the sub-system of excuse defences, which excluding the guilt of the person.

The article continues the legal analysis of defences excluding criminal responsibility under the Indian Penal Code of 1860. From a formally dogmatic point of view, the authors assess the respective dispositions of statutory norms and precedents for the interpretation of a small group of excuse defences such exclusionary circumstances as slight harm, consent of the victim, private defense.