While a functional concept of crime under the common law has ancient roots, theoretical and doctrinal formulations emerged in the nineteenth century. In this book, Adekemi Odujirin interweaves two narratives relating to crime: one contextual and functional, the other jurisprudential and theoretical. The result is a study that transcends traditional inquiry into legal concepts by identifying and exploring the normative conclusions embodied in the concept of crime.
Beginning with Anglo-Saxon England, Odujirin reviews the early development of the common law and the concept of crime in English legal scholarship. He considers the debates of the Enlightenment, examines the contributions of Locke and Hobbes, and follows through to nineteenth-century thinkers, notably Bentham and Austin.
A major contribution to the theory of jurisprudence and criminal law, this study will be of considerable interest to legal scholars in Canada and throughout the common-law world.