Smith & Hogan's Criminal Law

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Author: David Ormerod

Price: £34.99

Edition: 13th Edition (July 2011)

ISBN: 978-0-19-958649-3

Buy from OUP: Click Here

For lawyers studying or practising in criminal law, Smith & Hogan's Criminal Law is, without doubt, one of the leading texts.  It has now been under Professor Ormerod's impressive direction for a number of years and has continued to gain respect from both academics and practitioners.  Its aim is simple: to be the leading criminal law text.  It easily achieves that aim.  This new edition has been thoroughly revised to include the latest cases, legislation and Law Commission Consultation Papers.

Written by David Ormerod, who has recently been appointed as a Law Commissioner within the Criminal Law team, Smith & Hogan's Criminal Law is divided into two parts: general principles and particular crimes.  Each part is then sub-divided into a number of chapters: thirteen chapters on general principles and another twenty on specific crimes.  These specific crimes include murder, manslaughter, theft, making off without payment, the Fraud Act 2006, handling stolen goods, offences of damage to property, computer misuse offences, obscenity and road traffic offences.  There is, to my mind, no other text which is so comprehensive.

Smith & Hogan's Criminal Law is packed with a number of excellent features.  For example, there are a number of structured examples which explain complex legal principles in a logical and easy to follow way.  This (thankfully!) allows the reader to quickly become familiar with the case law and its application to problems.  The reader is then able to place the matter into context and apply it to problem questions.  Its written style is excellent: being both practical while scholarly meaning it is a vital text for both students and practitioners.  It is therefore perhaps understandable that Smith & Hogan's Criminal Law is often cited to the Court and referred to in judgments.

For anyone looking for an authoritative, clear and stimulating discussion of criminal law, there need not look any further than Smith & Hogan's Criminal Law.  It also has an excellent online resource centre.  By the time of this review, it includes a list of abbreviations, a bibliography, an additional chapter on forgery and a list of weblinks.  So far, there have (unsurprisingly) been no updates to the text.  It is, however, hoped that the text is regularly updated and that Professor Ormerod's commitments to the Law Commission do not interfere with the updating process (which I am sure they will not).  If you have any interest in criminal law, buy this text: it will save you time and better inform your understanding of criminal law.

Reviewed on 27 December 2011

© Student Law Journal, 2001 - All Rights Reserved

Home | News | Academic Articles | Practitioner Articles | Editorial Board | Article Submission | Contact | Links | Book Reviews