Editorial: Volume One 1937
| Published date | 01 November 1986 |
| Date | 01 November 1986 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002201838605000401 |
| Subject Matter | Editorial: Volume One 1937 |
VOLUME
FIFTY
This issue completes the fiftieth volume of the Journal. An editorial
published in the first issue (January-March 1937) set out the aims of
the journal. Many of the comments are still valid today, and we
thought
that
our
readers might be interested to judge for themselves
how much, or how little, things have changed in the past fifty years.
For
ourselves, we hope that the journal will continue to be useful to
anyone concerned with the practice of criminal law for the next fifty
years.
Editorial Board and
Publisher
Journal
of
Criminal Law
EDITORIAL:
VOLUME
ONE
1937
The first number of The Journal
of
Criminal Law is offered to the legal
profession in the belief that aperiodical devoted solely to the subject of
criminal law will find a large number of interested readers.
Civil Courts are from time to time without business to occupy them, but
the Criminal Courts are never without employment. Heavy taxation,
restriction of imports and currency difficulties may reduce the lists of the
Commercial Court, but they have no effect upon the calendars at the Old
Bailey and the Assizes. Criminal Courts, indeed, are more full of work than
ever before. Modern legislation tends to increase the number of criminal
offences and of potential criminals.
When the nineteenth century was young the criminal law was simple
enough, both in its terms and its application. Public Health Acts, Road
Traffic Acts, Probation of Offenders Acts, Milk Boards, PotatoBoards, and
the other products of bureaucratic legislation were yet to come; and the
practitioner got along very comfortably if he knew the common-law
definitions of murder, manslaughter, and larceny; that the Crown had to
prove its case; that hearsay was not evidence; and that the wording of the
indictment was all-important.
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