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Codification, Macaulay and the Indian Penal Code: The Legacies and Modern Challenges of Criminal Law Reform
Codificat ion, Macau lay a nd t he indian Pena l Code: T he Legacies a nd Modern Ch al- lenges of Crimina l L aw Refor m, edited by Wing- Cheong Cha n, Bar r y Wright, and stanley Yeo; pp. xv + 371. Aldershot and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2011, £75.00, $134.95.
In 1860, the Indian Penal Code was introduced into India, t he brainchild of Thomas Babington macaulay who had drafted the code during his time in Bengal in the 1830 s. Viewed by ma ny as the best example of Benthamite legal principles put into action, w ith its emphasis upon " lucidit y and accessibility of prov isions, a nd consistenc y of expression and applicat ion" (v ii), t he Indian Penal C ode would later be replicated in other colonial territories, notably Nigeria, Pakist an, Zimbabwe, and malaysia (including singapore). It prov ided the foundat ions for a stillbor n attempt at codification in Great Brita in in the late nineteenth century and would inform t he evolution of cr iminal law in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The Indian Penal Code is consequently exam- ined here t hrough a ver y wide-a ngle imperial lens.
Codification, Macaulay and the Indian Penal Code consists of four parts. The first consists of two chapters that provide a historical framing for the Indian Penal Code, locating its origins within efforts at legal reform in early nineteenth-century Britain. The following three parts, which comprise the bulk of this book, address the legacies of the Indian Penal Code, and in particular seek to provide some guidance as to how the Indian Penal Code, and those codes modeled upon it, can be refreshed and made more suitable to the societies in which they are operating. The essays are consistently of very high quality, and as they originated in a 2010 conference at the National university of singa- pore that...