CRIMINAL LAW - GENERAL PRINCIPLES

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Description
In the first edition of this work I expressed my wish to come back to the students with more details including discussions on the writings of academics to provoke and persuade young minds to think vigorously on theoretical issues in criminal law. But my interaction with the new generation of teachers and students has convinced me that the present pattern is more appropriate and effective inasmuch as it helps the teachers to teach and the students to search for answers. This also helps, I am told, to have a synergy of teaching and research in the law schools. Thus, what is now required is updating of the material rather than any revision.
In fact in India no innovative thinking is encouraged in the area of general principles of criminal law. This is not because of the incompetence of our judiciary or academia. On the contrary, it is due to the regimen of the provisions in the IPC incorporating these principles. Coupled with the rule of strict interpretation, these provisions do not provide for any space for innovation by judges. This "state of affairs" makes academics confine themselves to the four walls of the statutory regime. There is thus stagnation in the field of research in general principles of criminal law. The result is that those who master the provisions in the IPC masquerade as scholars in criminal law leading to the popular impression that it is an area of scholarship that can be mastered by way of developing expertise in statutory interpretation.
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Contents
1. Introduction to Criminal Law
2. Constitutional Rights for the Protection of the Accused
3. Punishment and Sentencing
4. Constituent Elements of an Offence
5. Parties to an Offence
6. Inchoate Offences: Attempt, Abetment and Conspiracy
7. Defences to Criminal Charges Based on Justifications
8. Defences to Criminal Charges Based on Excuses
9. Homicide
10. Rape and Other Sexual Offences
11. Offences Against Property and Relating to Documents
12. Offences Relating to Marriage
13. Offences Affecting Public Order and Morals
Subject Index
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Author Details
Dr. K.N. Chandrasekharan Pillai, B.Sc. (Ker), LL.M. (Del), LL.M., S. J. D. (Michigan) Director, Indian Law Institute, Professor & Dean, Faculty of Law, Cochin University of Science & Technology, Director Designate, National Institute for Advanced Legal Studies, Cochin
Renjith Thomas,
Devi Jagani
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