Ignoratia juris non excusat or Ignorantia legis neminem excusat is that not knowing criminal law is not a reasonable and probable cause to get rid of responsibility of person's acts. In other words ignorance of the law does not excuse" or "ignorance of the law excuses no one". Ignorance of the law is no excuse; typically refers to criminal charges, in which such ignorance is not a cognizable defense. It is a fundanmental principle of Turkish Criminal Law which is a public policy holding that a person who is unaware of a law may not escape liability for his or her acts. It is applicable for all criminal cases without exception, however absolute application of "Ignoratia juris non excusat" leads to unfairness and injustice in many concrete events or cases.
Many criminal lawyers agree with the legal principle "Ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it." They believe that this principle should be respected. According to their opinions persons have a certain responsibility of knowing and obeying the laws which their representatives have made. In other words knowing the laws that involve you is part of your responsibility as a citizen. However in modern law systems, absolute responsibility of persons to their states as a citizen is outdated. The new idea is that, a state works for its citizens, and responsibility of a state to its citizens is accountable. In addition, a social state (as Turkiye) cannot ask for much than it gives to its citizens. Whether a state teachs its laws to their citizens (in the schools) , then it can demand that a citizen knows criminal laws. In Turkiye, people are not well educated and most of them do not even go to high school, and it is unfair that applying Ignoratia juris non excusat toward them. In Turkish high school curriculum, there is only one course (in the first year of high school) related to law and it is "Citizenship" course in which people are taught their constitutional rights. There is no any other courses which include legal background.
Criminal Lawyers state that unless this principle is applied, many abuses can be made in jurisdiction and an honest and true verdict cannot be given. However this thesis is unacceptable. It is not justified absolute application of Ignoratia juris non excusat in any case. This causes abuses of persons. Ignorantia juris non excusat was the proscribed standard at a time when the law was barely more than an official declaration that "the right thing" was that which any reasonable person would judge to be moral and fair. It was never meant to apply to a time where the laws on the books could fill "entire libraries". Individual citizens should not be held accountable to the rules they do not know about.
The law seems pretty clear, although overwhelmingly voluminous. Even people who have legal background (for example attorneys) cannot know every technical details of criminal laws. Argumentum a fortiori, an individual cannot be expected to know entire criminal law. It is outdated and impractical.
It is obvious that Ignoratia juris non excusat can be applied in many cases, however absolute application is unjust. Every concrete events must be examined and discussed with taking its characteristics into account. To illustrate, homicide is a criminal act, a person must know whether he or she commits homicide, he or she is responsible for their act. However there is a criminal act which is regulated in TCC (Turkish Criminal Code article 217 ) that is "publicly incite people to not comply with the law " An individual citizen is not expected to know that. Persons can tell their decisions which are against any law to others and if others are convinced that mentioned law is unfair. Then they can choose not to obey that law. In a case like that, people who just tell their decisions to others can be punished. TCC article 318 regulates that "if a person criticizes military institution in a bad way, he or she will be punished". An individual person should know this. In addition there are 345 articles in TCC and there are other articles (related to criminal law) in any other codes (such as Banks Code, Enforcement of Bankruptcy Code). These articles are changed, added, corrected, abolished many times. Even lawyers cannot know all of them anytime.
There are persons who are Turkish citizens however live in another countries. To illustrate many Turkish citizen live in Germany and work in there. They are not be expected to know all of the codes and articles. For example in early 1980s, using or carrying foreign money was forbidden in Turkiye. A Turkish citizen (who lived in Germany and come Turkiye to visit his relatives) was carrying the Deutsche Mark (German money). Police found DM in his pocket and He is arrested. He defended himself by telling the court "he does not know that he should not carry foreign money" however he cannot get rid of responsibility.
If the law is "ars boni et aequi", the principles must be modified. Justice is the significant thing in the world. Everything must be done to protect it. Corruption must be prevented.
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