Since this book went to press in 1958 there have been new statutes and many new cases of sufficient importance to call for inclusion in the present edition. The judgments in some of the new cases have excited criticism, and in others previously accepted principles have been overridden. The result is that the task of the younger students of criminal law has been rendered more difficult and onerous, and the attempt to describe this situation has compelled some increase in the size of the book.

During the past fifty years there has been developing a movement towards the extension of the sphere of judicial discretion, and towards the elimination of the subjective element in the test of criminal liability. There can also be detected an impulse, probably not consciously appreciated by those who act under its influence, to extend the scope of the law of crime to cover persons previously beyond its reach. These tendencies can be seen in such cases as D.P.P. v. Smith, Welham v. D.P.P., and Sykes v. D.P.P. The resuscitation of the offence of misprision of felony in the last mentioned case might have interesting consequences, for if it were taken seriously by the general public the guess may safely be hazarded that the total number of crimes in the Metropolitan area alone would rise by certainly not less than ten thousand more larcenies reported to the police in the year.

I am glad once more to be able to express my grateful thanks to Mrs E. E. Jansen and to Miss Isobel Gawler for their invaluable help.