A. P. Simester – författare

The present volume draws together original and significant essays from a number of leading authorities which identify areas of the modern criminal law where there are significant conceptual difficulties. The project developed from a series of seminars in cambridge University, in which leading Anglo-American philosophers, criminal lawyers and legal theorists explored subjects such as attempts, intention, justification, excuses, coercion, complicity, drug-dealing and criminal harm. The topics covered in this impressive collection were chosen for their topicality as well as their theoretical and practical significance.

Written by a noted expert in criminal law, the book explores the philosophical underpinnings of the law's major doctrines concerning actus reus, mens rea, and defences, showing that they are not always driven by culpability. They are grounded also in principles of moral responsibility, ascriptive responsibility, and wrongdoing. As such, they engage wider debates about wrongdoing, and about the boundaries between liability and freedom. This multi-textured analysis allows the book to take more nuanced positions about many important controversies in criminal law. It argues, for example, that liability for omissions and for negligence-and even some strict liability elements-can sometimes be legitimate yet, at the same time, should be relatively rare. It also explains why principles of causation can differ in the criminal law from other contexts; what is wrong with the 'voluntary act' requirement; and why luck can affect the wrongs we commit without changing our degree of blameworthiness for committing them. The book concludes with an account of the major types of defences, and of how they interact with an agent's wrong and her underlying motivations.This volume presents a coherent and rich vision of the criminal law that, by its sheer breadth, makes a distinctive contribution to the literature, of interest to lawyers and philosophers alike.

This book celebrates Andreas (Andrew) von Hirsch’s pioneering contributions to liberal criminal theory. He is particularly noted for reinvigorating desert-based theories of punishment, for his development of principled normative constraints on the enactment of criminal laws, and for helping to bridge the gap between Anglo-American and German criminal law scholarship. Underpinning his work is a deep commitment to a liberal vision of the state. This collection brings together a distinguished group of international authors, who pay tribute to von Hirsch by engaging with topics on which he himself has focused. The essays range across sentencing theory, questions of criminalisation, and the relation between criminal law and the authority of the state. Together, they articulate and defend the ideal of a liberal criminal justice system, and present a fitting accolade to Andreas von Hirsch’s scholarly life.

This book shows how the mainstream doctrines of substantive criminal law map onto certain key underlying (and overlapping) principles. These principles are: legitimate criminalisation, accountability, culpability, moral responsibility and wrongdoing.

This book brings together leading scholars from the next generation of UK criminal lawyers to celebrate the work of GR Sullivan, Emeritus Professor at University College London, in the year of his retirement from writing Simester and Sullivan’s Criminal Law: Theory and Doctrine. The contributors examine many of the areas in which GR (Bob) Sullivan’s own writing has been influential, ranging from general doctrines such as causation and culpability, across specific offences like theft and fraud, through defences including necessity and insanity; before turning, finally, to matters affecting the criminal process, notably challenges to the doctrine of precedent in criminal law. Taken together, the essays are a powerful tribute to Bob’s standing and influence upon modern criminal law. At the same time, individually they make sophisticated contributions to our understanding of some pressing issues in contemporary criminal law. The essays illustrate the increasing importance of theoretical argument in modern criminal law, as well as the manner in which doctrinal debates have become interwoven with arguments about criminalisation norms. The resulting collection is thus a tribute also to the character of modern academic criminal law, a character that Bob and the writers of his generation did so much to develop.

This book brings together leading scholars from the next generation of UK criminal lawyers to celebrate the work of GR Sullivan, Emeritus Professor at University College London, in the year of his retirement from writing Simester and Sullivan’s Criminal Law: Theory and Doctrine. The contributors examine many of the areas in which GR (Bob) Sullivan’s own writing has been influential, ranging from general doctrines such as causation and culpability, across specific offences like theft and fraud, through defences including necessity and insanity; before turning, finally, to matters affecting the criminal process, notably challenges to the doctrine of precedent in criminal law. Taken together, the essays are a powerful tribute to Bob’s standing and influence upon modern criminal law. At the same time, individually they make sophisticated contributions to our understanding of some pressing issues in contemporary criminal law. The essays illustrate the increasing importance of theoretical argument in modern criminal law, as well as the manner in which doctrinal debates have become interwoven with arguments about criminalisation norms. The resulting collection is thus a tribute also to the character of modern academic criminal law, a character that Bob and the writers of his generation did so much to develop.

'... undoubtedly a first-rate companion for any undergraduate or post-graduate law course.’John Taggart, Criminal Law ReviewThis outstanding account of modern English criminal law combines detailed exposition and analysis of the law with a careful exploration of its theoretical underpinnings. Primarily, it is written for undergraduate students of criminal law, covering all subjects taught at undergraduate level.The book’s philosophical approach ensures students have a deeper understanding of the law that goes beyond a purely doctrinal knowledge As a result, over its numerous editions, it has become required reading for many criminal law courses. The 8th edition covers all statutory law including the Assaults on Emergency Workers Act 2018 and Domestic Abuse Act, s 71. Case law discussions now cover: Grant (complicity); Barton (dishonesty); Broughton, Field, Kuddus, and Rebelo (homicide) and AG’s Ref (No 1 of 2020) (sexual offences).

'... undoubtedly a first-rate companion for any undergraduate or post-graduate law course.'John Taggart, Criminal Law ReviewThis outstanding account of modern English criminal law combines detailed exposition and analysis of the law with a careful exploration of its theoretical underpinnings. Primarily, it is written for undergraduate students of criminal law, covering all subjects taught at undergraduate level.The book's philosophical approach ensures students have a deeper understanding of the law that goes beyond a purely doctrinal knowledge. As a result, over its numerous editions, it has become required reading for criminal law courses. The 9th edition covers all statutory law including the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, the Online Safely Act 2023, and the Public Order Act 2023. Case law discussions now cover R v Iqbal (2023) and Auriol Grey (2024).

'... undoubtedly a first-rate companion for any undergraduate or post-graduate law course.'John Taggart, Criminal Law ReviewThis outstanding account of modern English criminal law combines detailed exposition and analysis of the law with a careful exploration of its theoretical underpinnings. Primarily, it is written for undergraduate students of criminal law, covering all subjects taught at undergraduate level.The book's philosophical approach ensures students have a deeper understanding of the law that goes beyond a purely doctrinal knowledge. As a result, over its numerous editions, it has become required reading for criminal law courses. The 9th edition covers all statutory law including the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, the Online Safely Act 2023, and the Public Order Act 2023. Case law discussions now cover R v Iqbal (2023) and Auriol Grey (2024).

Prohibitions against offensive conduct have existed for many years, but their extent and use was on the decline. Recently, however, several jurisdictions, including England and Wales, have moved to broaden the reach and severity of measures against incivilities. New measures include expanded targeting of unpopular forms of public conduct, such as begging, and legislation authorising magistrates to issue prohibitory orders against anti-social behaviour. Because these quality-of-life prohibitions can be so restrictive of personal liberties, it is essential to develop adequate guiding and limiting principles concerning State intervention in this area. This book addresses the legal regulation of offensive behaviour. Topics include: the nature of offensiveness; the grounds and permissible scope of criminal prohibitions against offensive behaviour; the legitimacy of civil orders against incivilities; and identifying the social trends that have generated current political interest in preventing incivilities through intervention of law. These questions are addressed by eleven distinguished philosophers, criminal law theorists, criminologists, and sociologists.In an area that has attracted much public comment but little theoretical analysis to date, these essays develop a fuller conceptual framework for debating questions about the legal regulation of offensive behaviour.

When should we make use of the criminal law? Crimes, Harms, and Wrongs offers a philosophical analysis of the nature and ethical limits of criminalisation. The authors explore the scope of harm-based prohibitions, proscriptions of offensive behaviour, and ‘paternalistic’ prohibitions aimed at preventing self-harm, developing guiding principles for these various grounds of state prohibition. Both authors have written extensively in the field. They have produced an integrated, accessible, philosophically-sophisticated account that will be of great interest to legal academics, philosophers, and advanced students alike.‘this elegant, closely argued and convincing book is of great value and can be expected to be of lasting influence.’ James Chalmers‘Crimes, Harms, and Wrongs . . . is a welcome addition to this field, and should clarify the reader’s thinking on a breathtakingly broad range of issues. . . . This is an important book, and [its] consideration of not only Anglo-American theory and law, but also German legal doctrines and writings on criminalisation, should ensure that this debate reaches new heights in the future.’ Findlay Stark‘the result of [the authors’] many decades of thought and writing on this fundamental subject is an integrated, accessible, philosophically sophisticated discussion of this subject.’ Justice Gilles Renaud‘A.P. Simester and Andreas von Hirsch present an informed and systematic account of the principles that, in their view, should structure decisions about what to criminalize, and when.’ Vincent Chiao‘an outstanding work, original in many respects and meticulous in its arguments. It represents the greatest advance on this subject since Feinberg’s four volumes . . . an outstanding contribution to the re-invigorated criminalization debate.’ Andrew Ashworth‘important, original, interesting, and often ingenious. Unlike some recent competitive books it has the virtue of making sound arguments. And like everything else the authors have written, it is a joy to read …This is an absolutely wonderful book.’ Douglas Husak

This book celebrates Andreas (Andrew) von Hirsch’s pioneering contributions to liberal criminal theory. He is particularly noted for reinvigorating desert-based theories of punishment, for his development of principled normative constraints on the enactment of criminal laws, and for helping to bridge the gap between Anglo-American and German criminal law scholarship. Underpinning his work is a deep commitment to a liberal vision of the state. This collection brings together a distinguished group of international authors, who pay tribute to von Hirsch by engaging with topics on which he himself has focused. The essays range across sentencing theory, questions of criminalisation, and the relation between criminal law and the authority of the state. Together, they articulate and defend the ideal of a liberal criminal justice system, and present a fitting accolade to Andreas von Hirsch’s scholarly life.