Whoever commits an act which the law declares as punishable or which deserves punishment according to the fundamental idea of a penal law or the sound sentiment of the people, shall be punished. If no specific penal law can be directly applied to the act, it shall be punished according to the law whose underlying principle can be most readily applied to the act.
Section I
Article 2a
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A law issued for a limited time only is to be applied to those criminal acts which were committed during its validity, even after its validity has expired.
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Berlin, 28 June 1935
The Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor
Adolf Hitler
The Reich Minister of Justice