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Professor David Ormerod was appointed Law Commissioner with effect from 1 September 2010 for up to five years. He is Professor of Criminal Justice at the School of Law Queen Mary University of London and a practising barrister and Bencher at Middle Temple.
The Team
Claire Brown (team manager)
Christina Hughes (lawyer)
Raymond Emson (lawyer)
Simon Tabbush (lawyer)
Clare Wade (lawyer)
Fiona Alexander (research assistant)
Helena Duong (research assistant)
Hanna Noyce (research assistant)
Ongoing Projects
Simplification of criminal law
We are considering areas where the criminal law can be simplified, in particular whether some older offences need revision to bring them into line with the rest of the criminal law, or can abolished altogether.
This is an ongoing project which may be completed in instalments. We are currently considering the offences of public nuisance and kidnapping.
In March 2010 we published a Consultation Paper on Public Nuisance and Outraging Public Decency.
Further information is available on the project page.
Regulation, Public Interest and the Liability of Businesses
This project has as its primary focus the use of the criminal law as a way of promoting regulatory objectives or public interest goals and examines, in particular, the way that businesses are treated by the criminal law. It has evolved from, and now replaces, our project on other aspects of corporate criminal liability.
We published our consultation paper on 25 August 2010 and from late November 2010 will analyse the responses in order to formulate our recommendations for reform.
Further information is available on the project page.
Expert Evidence in Criminal Trials
The rules on the admissibility of expert evidence may play an important part in criminal trials. If expert evidence is admitted or excluded from a trial when it should not be, or is misunderstood, a miscarriage of justice may result
We published a consultation paper on 7 April 2009. The consultation ended on 7 July 2009 and we hope to publish our report in 2010.
Further information and details of how to make a submission are available on the project page.
Unfitness to Plead and the Insanity Defence
The current law is based on rules formulated in the first half of the nineteenth century when the science of psychiatry was in its infancy. Those rules are in need of reform. Important issues to be considered include the scope of a trial of the facts following a finding of unfitness to plead and the relationships between automatism, insanity and diminished responsibility.
Further information is available on the project page.
Recently Completed Projects
High Court's Jurisdiction over the Crown Court in Criminal Proceedings
The Law Commission was asked to consider the power of the High Court to review decisions of the Crown Court in criminal proceedings, as provided in section 29(3) of the Senior Courts Act 1981, because interpretation of that section had resulted in confusion and anomalies. It was also asked to examine the process of appealing by way of case stated from the Crown Court to the High Court.
We published a scoping paper in July 2005, and a consultation paper in 2007. We published our report on 27 July 2010.
Further information is available on the project page.
Conspiracy and Attempts
On 10 December 2009 we published our report, which makes recommendations to reform the law governing the criminal liability of those who agree, or attempt, to commit offences.
Further information is available on the project page.
Intoxication and Criminal Liability
On 15 January 2009 we published our report on Intoxication and Criminal Liability. The report contains recommendations for reform that would make the law more consistent, coherent and easier to apply.
Further information is available on the project page.
Bribery
On 20 November 2008 we published a final report containing our recommendations for reforming the law of bribery. The Law Commission was asked by the Government to re-examine the law of bribery in March 2007. We published a consultation paper on 29 November 2007 and the ensuing consultative process shaped the recommendations in the final report.
Further information is available on the project page.
Murder
We published a report containing our recommendations on 29 November 2006.
Further information is available on the project page.
Assisting and Encouraging Crime
Those who encourage or assist others to commit offences are called "accessories" and the doctrine that makes them criminally liable is known as "secondary liability". The doctrine is complicated, uncertain and anomalous, particularly that part related to "joint enterprise". We published a report containing our recommendations on 10 May 2007. Those recommendations were reflected in Part 2 of the Serious Crime Act 2007.
Further information is available on the project page.
For more information, contact the Criminal Law team.
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