united-states criminal-law comparative-law
Are the USA the only country with multiple, &quot;competing&quot; penal codes (Dual sovereignty doctrine)?
<p>As a German, I was surprised to learn that in the United States, there are penal codes (and prosecution) at two levels of government, namely at the state level, and at the federal level ("federal crime") - under the so-called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_sovereignty_doctrine" rel="noreferrer">Dual sovereignty doctrine</a>. This produces interesting problems, such as how to treat acts that are crimes under more than one of the US penal codes.</p>

<p>In Germany, there is only one criminal code (the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strafgesetzbuch" rel="noreferrer">Strafgesetzbuch</a>), which is enacted by federal parliament, and I believe the situation is similar in other European countries.</p>

<p>So, are there other countries with "competing" penal codes, like the United states?</p>

<p>Federal countries usually define the separation (and sometimes sharing) of legislative competencies in their constitutions. There will also usually be a "default" case for if the competency is not explicitly defined in the constitution. For example, in the United States, the default is to give legislative power to the individual states via the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_law_of_the_United_States" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Tenth Amendment</a>. If criminal law is left to the sub-national entities, then the nation can usually still enact a penal code with respect to its competencies (again, the U.S. is a good example).</p>

<p>So, I decided to make this a mini-research project by checking the countries Wikipedia lists as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation#Contemporary" rel="nofollow noreferrer">federations</a>. I wasn't able to find an explicit statement as to whether there were competing penal codes in most cases, but was able to find in which level of government the constitution placed criminal law. In some cases where there are "competing" penal codes, the constitution specified which level has supremacy, making for less "competition".</p>

<p>Without further ado, here's what I've been able to find. Links are either to an appropriate Wikipedia page, or the part of the applicable constitution dividing the legislative competencies. Take these with a grain of salt.</p>

<h1>Competing penal codes</h1>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_law_of_Australia" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Australia</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Bosnia_Herzegovina_2009?lang=en#81" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Bosnia and Herzegovina</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Ethiopia_1994?lang=en#468" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ethiopia</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concurrent_List" rel="nofollow noreferrer">India</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Iraq_2005?lang=en#690" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Iraq</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Mexico_2015?lang=en#1023" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Mexico</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Nigeria#Sharia" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Nigeria</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Pakistan_2015?lang=en#1305" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Pakistan</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Sudan_2005?lang=en#2103" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Sudan</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_law_of_the_United_States" rel="nofollow noreferrer">United States</a></li>
</ul>

<h1>Single national penal code</h1>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Austria#Structure" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Austria</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Brazil_2015?lang=en#651" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Brazil</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_law_of_Canada" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Canada</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Comoros_2009?lang=en" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Comoros</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Germany#Criminal_law" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Germany</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Malaysia_2007?lang=en#3234" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Malaysia</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Nepal_2015?lang=en#3691" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Nepal</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Russia_2014?lang=en#417" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Russia</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Switzerland_2014?lang=en#1103" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Switzerland</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Venezuela_2009?lang=en#483" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Venezuela</a></li>
</ul>

<h1>Unclear</h1>

<ul>
<li>Argentina</li>
<li>Belgium</li>
<li>Micronesia</li>
<li>St. Kitts and Nevis</li>
<li>Somalia</li>
<li>South Sudan</li>
<li>United Arab Emirates</li>
</ul>

<p>Many federal states have dual penal codes at the national and sub-national level. These include the USA, India, Australia and Canada.</p>
