(iii) PREFACE TO THE FOURTEENTH EDITION. THIS edition appears after the longest interval between any two consecutive issues of this work. The War accounts for some part of this period. The delay, however, afforded time for thorough revision, and accordingly I have endeavoured herein to correct the mistakes of previous editors (including my own) and to supplement shortcomings, especially in restoring to their chronological order (subject always to the logical) the accretions which, in passing through various hands, slip from their places. As far as it was possible, I have left untouched the work of the distinguished lawyer, who was responsible for the seventh edition (1868)—Sir J. F. STEPHEN. Readers will not require to be reminded of the many "first-class" statutes which have appeared between 1908 and 1920. But the most important legal event, from my point of view, during those years has been the creation and the fruit of the Criminal Court of Appeal. It is as if a new sun had established itself in the firmament of English criminal law, which not only illuminates every nook and cranny of doctrine, practice and procedure, but reviews in detail an innovation in our historythe multifarious facts rehearsed in a trial upon indictment. Consequently, I have considered it my duty to use its records fully in elucidating any part or point of my subject-matter. This obligation would alone account for nearly all the increase in the size of the volume. But I may add that in no sense does it contain a treatise on the practice of that Court (except, of course, in so far as that bears directly on the trial below). I have taken great pains to make the General Index quickly useful to the reader; it is, I hope, a sort of literary clearing-house for the preceding pages. Reported cases do not, as a rule, extend beyond 1919, but a few in 1920 of exceptional importance are inserted. In the "Additions and Corrections,' pp. 1126-9, will be found references to statutes passed on dates which precluded their appearing in their natural contexts. I am in duty bound to express here my thanks to Mr. H. AUSTIN, the learned Clerk of the Central Criminal Court, for his unfailing readiness to share with me his very great knowledge of every topic included in this book. H. C. November, 1920. |