Reconstructing Criminal Law first appeared 20 years ago at a time when the law in context movement in legal education was further from the mainstream than now. Yet we sense that criminal law teaching often still relies on a view of the subject against the grain of which this book has always tried to venture. We continue to believe that historical, sociological and philosophical insights help to explain and bring to life the complexity that is criminal law and justice. This has eased our task in producing this fourth edition. We have considered all of the material in the book, asking ourselves whether it is still relevant or has been overtaken by new developments, but we have not replaced extracts merely for the sake of it. In many cases, the writings on which we drew in 1990 continue to shine a powerful light on the shifting terrain of criminal law and justice.

The intellectual drive behind the book came largely from Nicola Lacey who has played an advisory role in this edition. The re-ordering, re-writing, and selection of extracts have been carried out by the two of us. In terms of lead author, we have always done some swapping around between editions; for this edition Celia was mainly responsible for Sections I to IV and Oliver for V and VI. We have re-ordered some parts and updated all of it. The pace of legislative change has been relentless. But other major transformations have taken place.