Talk:History of English criminal law

Initiating article
I feel this article is necessary because English criminal law is becoming to long, and the presence of identical headings on the same page will break links to sections of that article.James500 (talk) 17:56, 17 April 2011 (UTC)

I have removed the following passage because it duplicates the main article, and doesn't really fit with the way the article is set out.James500 (talk) 18:02, 17 April 2011 (UTC)

Provocation was a partial defence which reduced murder to manslaughter. A common law defence, it was amended by the Homicide Act 1957, and was be abolished by s.56(1) of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 and replaced by the defence of 'loss of self control'.

Another cut
I have cut the following passage from the history because: (1) Any article on English law ought to begin either when the Kingdom of England was created or at least when the earlier saxon kingdoms were created. It cannot begin during the Roman empire because neither England nor anything resembling it existed as a geopolitical entity at that time. (2) A general description of the law of wrongs that preceded the law of crimes is not relevant to this article because it is not "criminal law". All that is required is a statement that it previously existed, an explanation of how the criminal law was derived from it, and a link to its details in another article: If this information is not reproduced in any other article, then it should be incorporated in the most relevant article.James500 (talk) 22:40, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

The distinction between wrongs to the whole community and wrongs against individuals still had not been established by Roman times, and punishment for infringement of one's legal rights could be carried out by the victim himself. The pater familias was in possession of all the family and its property (including slaves). Hence, interference with any property was enforced by the pater. The Commentaries of Gaius on the Twelve Tables treated furtum (modern theft) as a tort. Similarly, assault and violent robbery were allied with trespass as to the pater's property. For example, the rape of a slave would be the subject of compensation to the pater as having trespassed on his "property") and breach of such laws created a vinculum juris (an obligation of law) that could only be discharged by the payment of monetary compensation (modern damages).