Principles of Criminal Law (Clarendon Law Series)

The foremost aim of this book is to raise questions about the doctrine as well as the rules of criminal law and to examine some of the principles and policies at work in the shaping of the criminal law by the legislature, the courts, the law reform bodies, and academic commentators. This process of examination does not start from the assumption that the criminal law is grounded in a stable set of established doctrines. A more realistic view is that the arguments and assumptions which influence the development of the criminal law form a disparate group, sometimes conflicting and sometimes invoked selectively.;One task is to identify the principles and policies which appear to play a major part, sometimes a part not openly avowed in the reasoning of the courts or the commentators. Then questions are raised about each of these doctrines. Are they soundly based, in moral or social terms? How are they related to the proper aims, forms, and limits of the criminal sanction in modern Western societies? Are there other principles and policies which would be more appropriate? For example, many writers on English criminal law, and some judges, assume, often with little discussion, that fairne