A History of the Criminal Law of England: Volume 1

Sir James Fitzjames Stephen (1829-94) published this three-volume account of the English criminal law's historical development in 1883, four years after his appointment as a judge of the High Court. It is a revision and expansion of the second chapter in Stephen's 1863 General View (also reissued in this series). At first sight, it is ironic that the author of this classic of legal historical scholarship was himself a Benthamite who favoured and promoted the codification of the common law and worked on codes of criminal law and procedure for India and for England.

Volume 1 contains a short preliminary account of Roman criminal law and pre-Conquest English criminal law; a survey of courts exercising criminal jurisdiction; a historical account of the development of the main elements of criminal procedure; a history of criminal punishments; and a general comparative view of the differences between English and French criminal procedure.

Preface
1. Statement of the subject of the work
2. Roman criminal law
3. Early English criminal law
4. The ordinary criminal courts
5. The criminal jurisdiction of Parliament and the court of the Lord High Steward
6. The criminal jurisdiction of the Privy Council
7. History of the law of criminal procedure
8. History of the law of criminal procedure (cont.)
9. History of the law of criminal procedure (cont.)
10. History of the law of criminal procedure (cont.)
11. History of criminal trials in England from 1554-1760
12. Description of modern criminal trials
13. History of legal punishments
14. Management of prosecutions
15. General of comparative view of English and French criminal procedure.