Obviously there must be ones who know much better than me, but as far as I remember, in my undergrad, one of my lecturer used to translate the -term- as criminal law, but it depends to the profession if he/she follows the equivalent structures in the other countries. On the other hand the subject is really deep enough to discuss for weeks I suppose...

Basicly, in hence the translations do the job, I beleive they do not perfectly fit to the instutitional structures for the countries, not only have the different legal system but even the same common/civil law structured systems.... -I personally agree with you for the term penal code-