A History of the Criminal Law of England

Sir James Fitzjames Stephen (1829-94) published this three-volume account of the English criminal law's historical development in 1883, four years after his appointment as a judge of the High Court. It is a revision and expansion of the second chapter in Stephen's 1863 General View (also reissued in this series). At first sight, it is ironic that the author of this classic of legal historical scholarship was himself a Benthamite who favoured and promoted the codification of the common law and worked on codes of criminal law and procedure for India and for England. Volume 3 covers the history of the criminal offences not covered in Volume 2 (murder and other offences against the person; theft and other property offences; and offences relating to trade and labour) and also covers the development of Indian criminal law and the main features of the Indian Penal Code of 1860 and Code of Criminal Procedure of 1882.