The Law Commission is charged with the duty to keep the law under review “with a view to its systematic development and reform, including in particular the
codification of [the] law”.
In 1989 we produced a draft Criminal Code but 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 being assembled into a code.
Legislating the Criminal Code: Fraud and Deception consultation paper (LCCP155)
Published 27 April 1999
A final report, Fraud (LC276), was published July 2002, together with a draft Bill
Legislating the Criminal Code: Corruption (LC248)
Published 3 March 1998
Legislating the Criminal Code: Misuse of Trade Secrets consultation paper (LCCP150)
Published 25 November 1997
Evidence in Criminal Proceedings: Hearsay and Related Topics (LC245)
Published 19 June 1997
Legislating the Criminal Code: Involuntary Manslaughter (LC237)
Published 5 March 1996
Offences of Dishonesty: Money Transfers (LC243)
Published 15 October 1996
Implemented by the Theft (Amendment) Act 1996
The following papers are available to download free of charge from the website of the British and Irish Legal Information Insitute.
Legislating the Criminal Code: Intoxication and Criminal Liability, 1995 (LC229)
Criminal Law: Computer Misuse, 1989 (LC186). Implemented by the Computer Misuse Act 1990
Criminal Law: A Criminal Code for England and Wales, (2 vols) 1989 (LC177)
Legislating the Criminal Code: Offences against the Person and General Principles, 1993 (LC218)
Legislating the Criminal Code: The Year and a Day Rule in Homicide, 1995 (LC230). Implemented by the Law Reform (Year and a Day Rule) Act 1996
Criminal Law: Rape within Marriage, 1992 (LC205). Implemented by s142 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994
