Scots criminal law: a rational reconstruction
2004-present
Researchers: James Chalmers, Fiona Leverick
Rational reconstruction in this context is the process of analysing and interpreting the substantive criminal law, in the light of theoretical and comparative material, in order to make what Antony Duff has described as “the best possible rational sense” of the law. This work has already led to the publication of the 200,000 word monograph Criminal Defences and Pleas in Bar of Trial in the peer-reviewed Scottish Universities Law Institute series in 2006, and The New Law of Sexual Offences in Scotland in the same series in 2010. The culmination of this project (but not the only output) will be a second significant monograph on the entirety of Scots criminal law, incorporating Criminal Defences. The Scottish Universities Law Institute has committed to publishing this (subject to peer review) as a fourth edition of Sir Gerald Gordon’s The Criminal Law of Scotland; while based on Sir Gerald’s work it will be a rewritten text rather than simply an update. Volume II of the fourth edition was published in 2017; volume I of the fourth edition is in preparation.
Key publications:
J Chalmers and F Leverick, The Criminal Law of Scotland, 4th edn, vol II (W. Green / Scottish Universities Law Institute, 2017)
J Chalmers and F Leverick, Criminal Defences and Pleas in Bar of Trial (W. Green / Scottish Universities Law Institute, 2006)
J Chalmers, The New Law of Sexual Offences in Scotland (W. Green / Scottish Universities Law Institute, 2010)