In 1989 we produced a draft Criminal Code. It was in many respects a statement of the existing law or of fairly recent proposals for reform, which were open to criticism. Accordingly, we subsequently adopted a policy of reviewing areas of criminal law so that one by one they would be modernised, where appropriate, before … Read more >
Project status: Complete
Many crimes, particularly crimes of violence, are committed when the offender is in a state of extreme or partial intoxication, usually as a result of the voluntary consumption of alcohol but often because of his or her use of (other) drugs, or a combination of alcohol and drugs. This view is supported by a number … Read more >
Project status: Complete
Download the report Download the summary The problem Kidnapping is an offence created by judges in the seventeenth century. There are generally 600 to 750 cases per year in which a person charged with kidnapping is brought before the courts. Many involve parents and children. The current definition is that kidnapping is an attack on … Read more >
Project status: Complete
Download Murder report (1): Partial Defences to Murder Download Murder, Manslaughter and Infanticide The problem The law governing homicide in England and Wales has some rules which have remained unaltered since the seventeenth century. This is even though it has long been acknowledged that they are in dire need of reform. In our 2004 report, … Read more >
Project status: Complete
A review of the law of England and Wales as it relates to evidence of previous misconduct in criminal proceedings and the related trial process.
Project status: Complete
The High Court has supervisory power over the Crown Court, but it is limited. It does not include “matters relating to trial on indictment”. The reason for this limitation is that it is in the interests of justice for trials to proceed without being delayed by appeals and applications to the High Court. The problem lies … Read more >
Project status: Complete
Download the report Download the consultation The problem In a criminal trial, a jury or magistrates’ court is required to determine disputed factual issues. Experts in a relevant field are often called as witnesses to help the fact-finding body understand and interpret evidence with which that body is unfamiliar. The current judicial approach to the … Read more >
Project status: Pre-project
“Contempt of court” covers a wide variety of conduct which undermines or has the potential to undermine the course of justice, and the procedures which are designed to deal with them. The law governing contempt of court is vast. The Law Commission published a consultation paper on contempt of court in November 2012. It focused … Read more >
Project status: Analysis of responses
The main recommendations we made in this project aimed to establish a principled basis for the creation of criminal law in regulatory contexts. We also considered particular doctrines of liability applicable to businesses and make proposals to ensure that they are fair to such bodies, in particular small businesses. The project A significant proportion of the new … Read more >
Project status: Complete
A project to review the need for reform of two distinct but related rules: the rule against double jeopardy, and the rule that the Crown cannot appeal against an acquittal even if it results from an erroneous ruling by the judge.