Offences against the Person: Law Commission Report (Hansard, 31 July 1997)

§ Lord Williams of Mostyn

The Law Commission's report No. 218, published in November 1993, is a major contribution to the development of the criminal law. It was warmly welcomed by many involved with the criminal justice system as creating a clearer and more coherent statement of the law of violence against the person. The Government have considered the Law Commission's recommendations with great care, and accept the principle of its proposals for reform of those offences contained mainly in the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.

This is a complex and difficult area of the law, and case law has evolved since the Law Commission's report was first published. It is important that any proposals to reform offences that come before the courts so frequently, and have been in existence for 136 years, are robust, well thought through and well supported. Following a detailed consideration of its report, done in close collaboration with the Law Commission, we have decided to publish a draft Bill in a consultation paper later this year. This will set out our initial proposals for reforming the law in this area based on the Law Commission's report and seek views on some of the difficult issues around the technical legal changes proposed by the Law Commission, such as definitions of intent, recklessness and intoxication, or whether the intentional transmission of disease should be included in the Bill. The proposals will apply to England and Wales.

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In accepting the principle of reforming the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, the Government do not plan to take forward all of the Law Commission's proposals at this juncture. In particular, the Law Commission made recommendations for setting out general defences of duress and the justifiable use of force in statute. We recognise the importance of these proposals, which are not directly related to the reform of the 1861 Act, but they raise some very difficult questions which should be considered separately and over a longer timescale.