Overview

The modern adversarial criminal trial emerged from the punitive and procedural upheaval in the criminal law of the first half of the nineteenth century. The campaign against capital punishment, which marked the century's early decades, stimulated procedural reform, including the enactment in 1836 of the Prisoners' Counsel Act. The 1836 Act enabled defence counsel for the first time to address the jury in felony trials. It generated a unique debate in Parliament, the press and the legal professions on the merits and dangers of advocacy. This book examines the debate and the practical implications of procedural reform for the conduct of criminal trials. The topics discussed include the increasing sophistication of prosecution and defence advocacy, the beginnings of modern professional ethics and the conscious rationalisation of adversary procedure as the best means to discover the truth. This is the first scholarly work to analyse the practice of advocacy and to identify its significance for the administration of justice. It includes case studies of four major criminal trials which demonstrate the interrelationships between advocacy and procedure in the making of the adversarial criminal trial. This is the first title of a new series, Oxford Studies in Modern Legal History, which, under the general editorship of Professor Brian Simpson, will publish outstanding monographs on legal history covering the period 1750 onwards.

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9780198262848

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with the enactment of the Prisoners' Counsel Act 1836 came defence council's highly significant right to address the jury directly. In the inaugural volume of the new series 'Oxford Studies in Modern Legal History' ... David Cairns provides a valuable addition to the body of scholarship covering this fundamental transformation in the nature of the criminal trial. K.J.M.Smith, Legal History, Vol.21, No.2, Aug 00. Cairns has undoubtedly provided legal historians with an absorbing and enlightening addition to the literature on advocacy and more generally to that of criminal justice history. K.J.M.Smith, Legal History, Vol.21, No.2, Aug.00. fine book which both develops the work of earlier historians, such as Langbein and Beattie, but also challenges them in important ways ... The argument of the book is straightforward ... an important and valuable book. Lindsay Farmer, Law Quarterly Review, January 2000 this is a convincing argument and fills a significant gap in legal history. It is tightly constructed ... The book is well-written and enjoyable, characterised by fluidity and, particularly because Cairns tells his story through the great 19th century criminal cases, a strong sense of narrative and pace ... Cairns has opened up a fascinating field of research ... This is a thought-provoking, well-researched and important book, highly recommended not only to academics but also to practitioners with an interest in the philosophic and historic bases for the role of the advocate and theories of professional responsibility. Emily Henderson, Cambridge Law Journal 1999 excellent book ... David Cairns' study of the early nineteenth-century criminal trial makes compelling reading. It is a thorough and highly readable piece of scholarship which convincingly calls for a realignment of our perspective on the critical historical steps which led to the emergence of English criminal adversarial procedure. Roderick Munday, Justice of the Peace Vol 163

excellent book ... David Cairns' study of the early nineteenth-century criminal trial makes compelling reading. It is a thorough and highly readable piece of scholarship which convincingly calls for a realignment of our perspective on the critical historical steps which led to the emergence of English criminal adversarial procedure. * Roderick Munday, Justice of the Peace Vol 163 * this is a convincing argument and fills a significant gap in legal history. It is tightly constructed ... The book is well-written and enjoyable, characterised by fluidity and, particularly because Cairns tells his story through the great 19th century criminal cases, a strong sense of narrative and pace ... Cairns has opened up a fascinating field of research ... This is a thought-provoking, well-researched and important book, highly recommended not only to academics but also to practitioners with an interest in the philosophic and historic bases for the role of the advocate and theories of professional responsibility. * Emily Henderson, Cambridge Law Journal 1999 * fine book which both develops the work of earlier historians, such as Langbein and Beattie, but also challenges them in important ways ... The argument of the book is straightforward ... an important and valuable book. * Lindsay Farmer, Law Quarterly Review, January 2000 * Cairns has undoubtedly provided legal historians with an absorbing and enlightening addition to the literature on advocacy and more generally to that of criminal justice history. * K.J.M.Smith, Legal History, Vol.21, No.2, Aug.00. * with the enactment of the Prisoners' Counsel Act 1836 came defence council's highly significant right to address the jury directly. In the inaugural volume of the new series 'Oxford Studies in Modern Legal History' ... David Cairns provides a valuable addition to the body of scholarship covering this fundamental transformation in the nature of the criminal trial. * K.J.M.Smith, Legal History, Vol.21, No.2, Aug 00. *

Author Information

David Cairns is a New Zealand barrister. He studied at the universities of Auckland, Toronto and Cambridge.

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