I. WHY THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN JUSTIFICATION AND EXCUSE IS
A KEY ISSUE
As already mentioned in my introductory remarks ' and as demonstrated
in many contributions published herein, there seems to be
no greater cleavage between civil law and common law schools of
criminal theory than that of whether there does or, if not, should
be a distinction between justification and excuse. For common law
scholars - as exemplified by ROXIN's report on an English student's
reaction - this distinction appears to be no more than an
"imaginative game" 2 and therefore, as probably has to be
concluded, seems to be without any practical or even serious
theoretical significance. 3 For German criminal theory and justice,
however, as well as for many other legal systems which meanwhile