Criminal Code of England and Wales

The jurisdiction of England and Wales does not have a criminal code though such an instrument has been often recommended and attempted. The creation of such a code would require both consolidation and codification.

The Law Commission views a comprehensive criminal code as desirable in principle, but not currently feasible as a single undertaking. Its present approach is incremental simplification of discrete offence-areas and procedural law, creating code-ready statutes over time.

History

... with a view to its systematic development and reform, including in particular the codification of [the] law ... and generally the simplification and modernisation of the law.

— A Criminal Code team is set up including academic lawyer Professor Sir John Cyril Smith, the outstanding criminal lawyer of his time.

Arguments for a code

Attorney-General Sir John Holker said:

Surely, it is a desirable thing that anybody who may want to know the law on a particular subject should be able to turn to a chapter of the Code, and there find the law he is in search of explained in a few intelligible and well-constructed sentences; nor would he have to enter upon a long examination of Russell on Crimes, or Archbold, and other text-books, because he would have a succinct and clear statement before him.

Sir John Smith was, in general an opponent of legal codes but said:

The criminal law is entirely different. It is incoherent and inconsistent. State almost any general principle and you find one or more leading cases which contradict it. It is littered with distinctions which have no basis in reason but are mere historical accidents. I am in favour of codification of the criminal law because I see no other way of reducing a chaotic system to order, of eliminating irrational distinctions and of making the law reasonably comprehensible, accessible and certain. These are all practical objects. Irrational distinctions mean injustice. A is treated differently from B when there is no rational ground for treating him differently; and this is not justice.

Reports of the royal commissions

Royal Commission on the Criminal Law

  • First to Sixth Reports of the Royal Commission on the Criminal Law (1834, 1836, 1837, 1839, 1840, 1841).
  • Seventh and Eighth Reports of the Royal Commission on the Criminal Law (1843).

Royal Commission on Revising and Consolidating the Criminal Law

  • First to Fifth Reports of the Royal Commission on Revising and Consolidating the Criminal Law (1845, 1846, 1847, 1847, 1849).

Royal Commission on the Law Relating to Indictable Offences

  • Report of the Royal Commission on the Law Relating to Indictable Offences (1879).

Law Commission reports and papers

Codification of the Criminal Law: Law Com. Nos 143 and 177

Sources:

  • LC 143 (1985). Codification of the Criminal Law: a Report to the Law Commission.
  • LC177(1) (1989). A Criminal Code for England and Wales (Vol. 1: Report and Draft Criminal Code Bill).
  • LC177(2) (1989). A Criminal Code for England and Wales (Vol. 2: Commentary on Draft Criminal Code Bill).
  • Hansard Debates, House of Lords, Vol 508 (22 May 1989), Col 2 56 ‘Law Commission Report No 177’.

For a complete list of Law Commission reports and papers about criminal law generally, see Law Commission Criminal Law Reports and Papers.

Suggested reading

Books

  • Bohlander, Michael; Birkett, Daley (Eds) (2014). The Codification of Criminal Law.
  • Smith, K. J. M. (1998). Lawyers, legislators, and theorists: developments in English criminal jurisprudence 1800-1957.
  • Robinson, Paul H. (1997). Structure and Function in Criminal Law.
  • Cornish, W.R. and Clarke, G. de N. (1989). Law and Society in England 1750–1950.
  • Lang, Maurice Eugen (1924). Codification in the British Empire and America.
  • Stephen, James Fitzjames. (1877). A Digest of the Criminal Law (Crimes and Punishments).
  • Cottu, Charles. (1800). On the Administration of the Criminal Code in England, and the Spirit of the English Government.
  • Schofield, Philip; Harris, Jonathan (Eds). Legislator of the world: writings on codification, law, and education (The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham).

Chapters in books

  • Cross, Sir Rupert. (1978). Pages 5–20: The Reports of the Criminal Law Commissioners (1833-1849) and the Abortive Bills of 1853 in Reshaping the Criminal Law: Essays in Honour of Glanville Williams.
  • Clive, Eric. (2010). Chapter 4 (pp. 54–69): Codification of the Criminal Law in Essays in Criminal Law in Honour of Sir Gerald Gordon.
  • Clarkson, Chris. (2011). Recent Law Reform and Codification of the General Principles of Criminal Law in England and Wales: A Tale of Woe in Codification, Macaulay and the Indian Penal Code: The Legacies and Modern Challenges of Criminal Law Reform.
  • Herring, J. (2022: 10th end). Chapter 1 in Criminal Law: Text, Cases, and Materials.

Journal articles

  • Chalmers, James. (2014). Frenzied Law Making: Overcriminalization by Numbers (2014) 67(1) Current Legal Problems.
  • Lavery, Jenny. (2010). Codification of the Criminal Law: An Attainable Ideal? (2010) 74(6) J. Crim. L. 557.
  • Ferguson, Pamela R. (2009). Constructing a criminal code (2009) 20(1) Crim. L.F. 139.
  • Dennis, Ian. (2009). RIP: The Criminal Code (1968-2008) (Editorial) [2009] Crim. L.R. 1-2.
  • Ferguson, Pamela R. (2009). Codifying criminal law: the Scots and English draft codes compared [2004] Crim. L.R. 105-119.
  • Samuels, Alex. (2003). Why do we not have a criminal code? (2003) 67(3) J. Crim. L. 214-219.
  • Dennis, Ian. (2003). The Law Commission and codification of the criminal law: Part 35 (Editorial) [2003] Crim. L.R. 431-432.
  • Dennis, Ian. (2001). Reviving the criminal code (Editorial) [2001] Crim. L.R. 261-264.
  • Farmer, Lindsay (2000). Reconstructing the English Codification Debate: The Criminal Law Commissioners, 1833–45 (2000) 18(2) Law and History Review 397–442.
  • Robinson, Paul H. (2000). Structuring Criminal Codes to Perform Their Function (2000) 4(1) Buff. Crim. L.R. 1.
  • Arden, Mary (1999). Criminal law at the crossroads: the impact of human rights from the Law Commission's perspective and the need for a code [1999] Crim. L.R. 439-459.
  • Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Justice. (1998). A criminal code: must we wait for ever? [1998] Crim. L.R. 694-696.
  • Smith, J.C. (1995). The Law Commission's Criminal Law Bill: a good start for the Criminal Code [1995] Stat. L.R. 105-108.
  • Brooke, Henry (1995). The Role of the Law Commission in Simplifying Statute Law (1995) 16(1) Stat. L.R. 1.
  • Samuels, Alec. (1992). Drafting the criminal code (1992) 13(3) Stat. L.R. 229-239.
  • Gardiner, Simon. (1992). Reiterating the Criminal Code (1992) 55(6) M.L.R. 839-847.
  • Wells, Celia. (1992). Moral boundaries and criminal codes (1992) 142(6564) N.L.J. 1133-1134.
  • Ashworth, Andrew. (1992). Legislating the criminal code [1992] Crim. L.R. 393-395.
  • Smith, A.T.H. (1992). Legislating the criminal code: the Law Commission's proposals [1992] Crim. L.R. 396-406.
  • Ashworth, Andrew. (1990). Codifying English criminal law (Editorial) [1990] Crim. L.R. 141-142.
  • Midland Circuit. (1990). Lord Chief Justice Cockburn's letters on the Criminal Code Bill of 1879 [1990] Crim. L.R. 315-317.
  • de Burca, Grainne, and Gardner, Simon (1990). The codification of the criminal law (1990) 10(4) O.J.L.S. 559-571.
  • Cowley, David. (1990). Codification of the criminal law (1990) 54(1) J. Crim. L. 98-99.
  • Ashworth, Andrew. (1989). A criminal code for England and Wales (Editorial) [1989] 393-394.
  • Editorial. (1989). Criminal law codification (1989) 139(6404) NLJ 529.
  • Buxton, Richard. (1989). The Law Commission's Criminal Code (1989) 139(6407) N.L.J. 639-640.
  • Smith, J.C. (1987). Codification of the criminal law [1987] Denning L.J. 137-150.
  • Smith, A.T.H. (1986). Codification of the criminal law - Part 1: The case for a code [1986] Crim. L.R. 285-295.
  • Bennion, Francis. (1986). Codification of the criminal law - Part 2: The technique of codification [1986] Crim. L.R. 295-302.
  • Ashworth, Andrew. (1986). Codification of the criminal law - Part 3: The draft code, complicity and the inchoate offences [1986] Crim. L.R. 303-314.
  • Wells, Celia. (1986). Codification of the criminal law - Part 4: Restatement or reform [1986] Crim. L.R. 314-323.
  • Wasik, Martin (1986). Codification: mental disorder and intoxication under the draft criminal code (1986) 50(4) J. Crim. L. 393-404.
  • Clarkson, C.M.V., and Keating, H.M. (1986). Codification: offences against the person under the draft criminal code (1986) 50(4) J. Crim. L. 405-431.
  • Ashworth, Andrew (1984). Influences on the Creation of Criminal Law and Criminal Policy in England (1984) 13(2) J. Crim. L.955-111.
  • Friedland M L, ‘R S Wright’s Model Criminal Code: A Forgotten Chapter in the History of the Criminal Law’ (1981) 1 Oxford J Legal Stud 307.
  • Shapiro, Barbara (1974). ‘Codification of the Laws in Seventeenth-Century England’ (1974) Wis. L. Rev. 428.
  • Smith, K.J.M. (1975). The Law Commission Working Paper No. 55 on Codification of the Criminal Law, Defences of General Application: Official Investigation and Entrapment [1975] Crim.L.R. 12.
  • Andrews J.A. (1969). Codification of Criminal Offences [1969] Crim. L.R. 59.
  • Scarman, Leslie (1967) Codification and Judge-Made Law: A Problem of Coexistence [1967] 42 Indiana Law Journal 3.
  • Stone, Ferdinand Fairfax (1955). A Primer on Codification (1955) 29 Tul. L. Rev. 303.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Simplification of the criminal law". Law Commission. Retrieved 6 November 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Lord Bingham (1998)
  3. ↑ Farmer, Lindsay (2000). "Reconstructing the English Codification Debate: The Criminal Law Commissioners, 1833-45". Law and History Review. 18 (2): 397–425. doi:10.2307/744300. ISSN 0738-2480. JSTOR 744300.
  4. ↑ "Criminal Code (Indictable Offences) Bill - Hansard - UK Parliament". hansard.parliament.uk.
  5. ↑ Report of the Law Commission on Codification of the Criminal Law (LC No. 143) (PDF). 28 March 1985.
  6. ↑ Law Commission (1989)
  7. ↑ Home Secretary (2002) Justice for All Archived 2007-07-12 at the Wayback Machine, Cm.5563, p.17
  8. ↑ Great Britain. Royal Commission (1971). Reports from the Royal Commission on the Criminal Law with Appendices and Index, 1834-41. Internet Archive. Shannon : Irish University Press. ISBN 9780716511397.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  9. ↑ Great Britain. Royal Commission for Revising and Consolidating the Criminal Law (1971). Reports from the Royal Commission on the Criminal Law : with appendices and index, 1843-45. Internet Archive. Shannon : Irish University Press. ISBN 9780716511403.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  10. ↑ Great Britain. Royal Commission for Revising and Consolidating the Criminal Law (1971). Reports from the Royal Commission on Revising and Consolidating the Criminal Law; with appendices and index, 1845-49. Internet Archive. Shannon : Irish University Press. pp. 9–169. ISBN 978-0-7165-1141-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  11. ↑ Report of the Royal Commission on the Law Relating to Indictable Offences (C. 2345) (PDF). April 1879.
  12. ↑ "Codification of the Criminal Law". Law Commission.
  13. ↑ "Criminal Law: A Criminal Code". Law Commission.
  14. ↑ Law Commission (1985). Criminal Law: Codification of the Criminal Law. Law Com No 143. London: HMSO. ISBN 0102270856.
  15. ↑ Law Commission (1989). A Criminal Code for England and Wales (Vol. 1: Report and Draft Criminal Code Bill). Law Com No 177. London: HMSO. ISBN 0102299897.
  16. ↑ Law Commission (1989). A Criminal Code for England and Wales (Vol. 2: Commentary on Draft Criminal Code Bill). Law Com No 177. London: HMSO. ISBN 0102299897.
  17. ↑ "Hansard, HL, Vol 508 (22 May 1989), Col 2, 56 'Law Commission Report No 177'". hansard.parliament.uk.
  18. ↑ Bohlander, Michael; Birkett, Daley (2014). The Codification of Criminal Law. Farnham: Ashgate. ISBN 9781409454663.
  19. ↑ Smith, K. J. M. (1998). Lawyers, legislators, and theorists: developments in English criminal jurisprudence 1800-1957. Oxford : New York: Clarendon Press; Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198257236.
  20. ↑ Robinson, Paul H. (1997). Structure and Function in Criminal Law. Oxford: Clarendon. ISBN 9780198258865.
  21. ↑ Cornish, W. R.; Clark, G. de N. (1989). Law and society in England: 1750-1950. London: Sweet & Maxwell. ISBN 0421311509.
  22. ↑ Lang, Maurice Eugen (1924). Codification In The British Empire And America. ISBN 9781584776208. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  23. ↑ Stephen, James Fitzjames (1877). A Digest of the Criminal Law (Crimes and Punishments). London: Macmillan and Co.
  24. ↑ Cottu, Charles (1800). On the administration of the criminal code in England, and spirit of the English government: by M. Cottu; [translated exclusively for the Pamphleteer]. Lawbook Exchange. ISBN 978-1-58477-383-2. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  25. ↑ Bentham, Jeremy; Schofield, Philip; Harris, Jonathan; Bentham, Jeremy (1998). Legislator of the world: writings on codification, law, and education. Oxford : New York: Clarendon Press; Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198207476.
  26. ↑ Glazebrook, P.R. (Ed.) (1978). Reshaping the Criminal Law: Essays in Honour of Glanville Williams. London: Stevens. ISBN 042045540X.
  27. ↑ Clive, Eric (2010). "Codification of the Criminal Law". Essays in Criminal Law in Honour of Sir Gerald Gordon: 54–69. doi:10.1515/9780748679294-009.
  28. ↑ Chalmers, James; Farmer, Lindsay; Leverick, Fiona (2022). Essays in Criminal Law in Honour of Sir Gerald Gordon. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9780748640706.
  29. ↑ Wright, Barry; Chan, Wing Cheong; Yeo, Stanley (2011). Codification, Macaulay and the Indian Penal Code: the legacies and modern challenges of criminal law reform. Burlington, Vt: Ashgate. doi:10.4324/9781315572499-18. ISBN 9781409424420.
  30. ↑ Herring, Jonathan (2022). Criminal law: text, cases, and materials (10 ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192855923.
  31. ↑ Chalmers, J. (2014). "'Frenzied Law Making': Overcriminalization by Numbers". Current Legal Problems. 67 (1): 483–502. doi:10.1093/clp/cuu001.
  32. ↑ Lavery, Jenny (December 2010). "Codification of the Criminal Law: An Attainable Ideal?". The Journal of Criminal Law. 74 (6): 557–578. doi:10.1350/jcla.2010.74.6.669.
  33. ↑ Ferguson, Pamela R. (March 2009). "Constructing a Criminal Code". Criminal Law Forum. 20 (1): 139–161. doi:10.1007/s10609-008-9091-8.
  34. ↑ Dennis, Ian (2009). "RIP: The Criminal Code (1968-2008) (Editorial)". Criminal Law Review. Jan: 1.
  35. ↑ Ferguson, Pamela (2004). "Codifying criminal law (2): the Scots and English draft codes compared". Criminal Law Review. Feb: 105–119.
  36. ↑ Samuels, Alec (June 2003). "Why Do We Not Have a Criminal Code?". The Journal of Criminal Law. 67 (3): 214–219. doi:10.1177/002201830306700305.
  37. ↑ Dennis, Ian (2003). "The Law Commission and codification of the criminal law: Part 35 (Editorial)". Criminal Law Review (Jul): 431–432.
  38. ↑ Dennis, Ian (2001). "Reviving the criminal code (Editorial)". Criminal Law Review (Apr): 261–264.
  39. ↑ Farmer, Lindsay (2000). "Reconstructing the English Codification Debate: The Criminal Law Commissioners, 1833–45". Law and History Review. 18 (2): 397–426. doi:10.2307/744300.
  40. ↑ Robinson, Paul H. (2000). "Structuring Criminal Codes to Perform Their Function". Buffalo Criminal Law Review. 4 (1): 1–11. doi:10.1525/nclr.2000.4.1.1.
  41. ↑ Arden, Mary (1999). "Criminal law at the crossroads: the impact of human rights from the Law Commission's perspective and the need for a code". Criminal Law Review (Jun): 439–459.
  42. ↑ Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Justice (1998). "A criminal code: must we wait for ever?". Criminal Law Review (Oct): 694–696.
  43. ↑ Smith, J. C. (1995). "The Law Commission's Criminal Law Bill: A Good Start for the Criminal Code". Statute Law Review. 16 (2): 105–108. doi:10.1093/slr/16.2.105.
  44. ↑ Brooke, Justice (1995). "The Role of the Law Commission in Simplifying Statute Law". Statute Law Review. 16 (1): 1–6. doi:10.1093/slr/16.1.1.
  45. ↑ Samuels, Alec (1992). "Drafting the Criminal Code". Statute Law Review. 13 (3): 229–239. doi:10.1093/slr/13.3.229.
  46. ↑ Gardner, Simon (1992). "Reiterating the Criminal Code". The Modern Law Review. 55 (6): 839–847.
  47. ↑ Wells, Celia (1992). "Moral boundaries and the criminal codes". New Law Journal. 142 (6564): 1133–1134.
  48. ↑ Ashworth, Andrew (1992). "Legislating the criminal code". Criminal Law Review (Jun): 393–395.
  49. ↑ Smith, A.T.H (1992). "Legislating the criminal code: the Law Commission's proposals". Criminal Law Review (Jun): 396–406.
  50. ↑ Ashworth, Andrew (1990). "Codifying English criminal law (Editorial)". Criminal Law Review (Mar): 141–142.
  51. ↑ Midland Circuit (1990). "Lord Chief Justice Cockburn's letters on the Criminal Code Bill of 1879". Criminal Law Review (May): 315–317.
  52. ↑ Búrca, Gráinne De; Gardner, Simon (1990). "The Codification of Criminal Law". Oxford Journal of Legal Studies. 10 (4): 559–571. doi:10.1093/ojls/10.4.559.
  53. ↑ Cowley, David (1 February 1990). "Codification of the Criminal Law". The Journal of Criminal Law. 54 (1): 98–99. doi:10.1177/002201839005400105.
  54. ↑ Ashworth, Andrew (1989). "A criminal code for England and Wales (Editorial)". Criminal Law Review (Jun): 393–394.
  55. ↑ Editorial (1989). "Criminal law codification". New Law Journal. 139 (6404): 529.
  56. ↑ Buxton, Richard (1989). "The Law Commissions' Criminal Code". New Law Journal. 139 (6407): 639.
  57. ↑ Smith, J C (30 October 2012). "Codification of the Criminal Law". The Denning Law Journal. 2 (1): 137–150. doi:10.5750/dlj.v2i1.164.
  58. ↑ Smith, A.T.H. (1986). "Codification of the criminal law - Part 1: The case for a code". Criminal Law Review (May): 285–295.
  59. ↑ Bennion, Francis (1986). "Codification of the criminal law - Part 2: The technique of codification". Criminal Law Review (May): 295–302.
  60. ↑ Ashworth, Andrew (1986). "Codification of the criminal law - Part 3: The draft code, complicity and the inchoate offences". Criminal Law Review (May): 303–314.
  61. ↑ Wells, Celia (1986). "Codification of the criminal law - Part 4: Restatement or reform". Criminal Law Review (May): 314–323.
  62. ↑ Wasik, Martin (1986). "Codification: Mental Disorder and Intoxication under the Draft Criminal Code". The Journal of Criminal Law. 50 (4): 393–404. doi:10.1177/002201838605000407.
  63. ↑ Clarkson, C. M. V.; Keating, H. M. (1986). "Codification: Offences against the Person under the Draft Criminal Code". The Journal of Criminal Law. 50 (4): 405–431. doi:10.1177/002201838605000408.
  64. ↑ Ashworth, Andrew (1984). "Influences on the Creation of Criminal Law and Criminal Policy in England". Anglo-American Law Review. 13 (2): 1–13. doi:10.1177/147377958401300201.
  65. ↑ Friedland, M. L. (1981). "R. S. Wright's Model Criminal Code: A Forgotten Chapter in the History of the Criminal Law". Oxford Journal of Legal Studies. 1 (3): 307–346. doi:10.1093/ojls/1.3.307.
  66. ↑ Shapiro, Barbara (1975). "Law Reform in Seventeenth Century England". The American Journal of Legal History. 19 (4): 280. doi:10.2307/845054.
  67. ↑ Smith, K. J. M. (1975). "The Law Commission Working Paper No. 55 on Codification of the Criminal Law, Defences of General Application: Official Investigation and Entrapment". Criminal Law Review: 12.
  68. ↑ Andrews, J.A. "1969". Criminal Law Review: 59.
  69. ↑ Scarman, Leslie George (1967). "Codification and Judge-Made Law: A Problem of Coexistence". Indiana Law Journal. 42 (3): 3.
  70. ↑ Stone, Ferdinand Fairfax (1955). "A Primer on Codification". Tulane Law Review. 29: 303.