Criminology Research Act, 1971
| DOI | 10.1177/000486587100400408 |
| Published date | 01 December 1971 |
| Date | 01 December 1971 |
| Subject Matter | Original Articles |
AUST. &N.Z. JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY (Dec., 1971): 4, 4
CURRENT COMMENT
(1)
Draft
Criminal
Code
for
the
Australian
Territories
245
A DRAFT code
(Parliamentary
Paper
No. 44 (1969) of
the
Parliament
of
the
Commonwealth of
Australia),
was
presented
by
command
on 14th
May,
1969.
The
draft
was
submitted
by
the
Law Council of Australia
and
is
now published
at
$1.45
by
the
Commonwealth
Government
Printing
Office.
The
attempt
to
draft
acriminal code is a notable
event
in
the
history
of
Australian
criminal
law
and
worthy of considerable
examination
by
anyone
interested
in
the
field.
Codification
has
always
had
some
support
by a body of English
lawyers,
although
there
has
always been some resistance to
attempted
codifications. So, for example,
the
draft
codifications of
the
criminal
law
by
Sir
James
Fitzjames
Stephen
and
Macauley raised
heated
controversy in
England
even
though
Macauley's code was
adopted
for use in
the
eastern
colonies
and
Stephen's
incorporated
in
the
laws of
Canada
(1892), New
Zealand
(1893), Queensland (1899)
and
Western
Anustralia
(1902).
Further
codifying
attempts
were
made
in 1924in
Tasmania
and
resulted in
the
Tas-
manian
Criminal Code.
The
movement towards codifying, which was probably arevival of
in-
terest
in
the
Roman
codes, took place in Europe towards
the
end
of
the
18th
century
and
early in
the
19th century.
The
German
code of 1813,
for
example, which was largely
drafted
by Feuerbach, was
an
attempt
to
put
the
whole of
the
criminal
law
into
asimple
and
certain
form.
The
revival
of
interest
in codification took place in Europe contemporaneously
with
the
growth
of
what
might
be called "systems in philosophy".
It
was believed
that
the
ideal
statement
of
what
the
law was could be discovered
and
could
be reduced to a simple
and
intelligible form
in
the
same way
that
reality
itself could be understood as a philosophic system.
The
purposes
intended
to be served by a codification
can
be
shortly
summarised
as:
1.
It
will simplify
the
language of
the
law.
2.
It
will
thereby
become more intelligible to a
greater
number
of
people.
3. This communication of
what
the
law requires will effect
the
principle
nulla
crimen
sine lege (no crime
without
law),
which
was believed to underlie
the
whole
criminal
law system.
4.
It
will introduce
an
element
of stability
into
the
law, as
the
code will be less
subject
to legislative changes
than
general
Iegtslatlon.
5. A code need
not
remain
fixed,
but
will simplify
further
revisions.
While
these
advantages
might
be
sought
in
codification of
the
criminal
law,
it
can
be argued
that
codes involve
certain
other
disadvantages. So,
for example,
many
lawyers
might
reject
the
codification of
current
principles which will be imposed on
future
circumstances.
Such
a
static
law will certainly conflict
with
the
dynamics of social development.
Further,
it
might
be suggested
that
the
perpetuation
of
current
attitudes
in
a fixed
code neglects
altogether
the
evaluation of
those
current
attitudes
them-
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