OF THE CRIMINAL LAW (CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS). BY SIR JAMES FITZJAMES STEPHEN, K.C.S.I., D.C.L. ONE OF THE JUDGES OF THE HIGH COURT, QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION. PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. AFTER the publication of the first edition of this work I obtained the permission of Earl Cairns, then Lord Chancellor, to draw a Criminal Code which was based upon it. The Code was drawn and introduced into Parliament in the session of 1878 by the late Lord Justice Holker, then Attorney-General. It included both the definitions of indictable offences and a system of criminal procedure. A commission consisting of Lord Blackburn, Mr. Justice Barry, Lord Justice Lush, and myself, was appointed to report upon the Draft Code of 1878. The report was issued in 1879, containing by way of appendix the Draft Code as revised by the Commissioners. This was introduced into Parliament in 1879, but was not carried mainly for want of time. In 1882 the part of the Code which related to Criminal Procedure was mentioned in the Queen's Speech as a Government measure, but it was postponed to business of greater urgency. A History of the Criminal Law by me has just been published by Messrs. Macmillan and Co., which contains the history of all the more important definitions of crimes, and of every step in the procedure for their punishment, and of every Court by which the law is put in force. A Digest of the Law relating to Criminal Procedure by myself and my eldest son has also been published by Messrs. Macmillan. The three books taken together will be found to give first a complete account of the history of the whole subject, next |