Criminal Attempts: (Oxford Monographs on Criminal Law and Justice)

This book reflects the belief that a careful study of the Law of Attempts should be both interesting in itself, as well as being a productive route into a number of larger and deeper issues in criminal law theory and in the philosophy of action. By identifying the legal doctrines which courts and legislatures have developed or adopted, the author goes on to ask whether and how they can be rationalized or rendered persuasive. Such an approach involves paying detailed attention to cases. The book is also unusual in that it grapples with English, Scots and US law, showing great breadth of research as well as philosophical sophistication. This is a work which is likely to become a seminal study and a major contribution to the study of law and legal philosophy.

Review :
`fine monograph ... Iriminal Attempts is a magisterial contribution to jurisprudence and will surely be the indispensable starting point for further work in the area.' Hamish Stewart, Mind, Vol. 109, No.435, July 2000. This book solidifies Duff's reputation as perhaps the finest theorist of the philosophy of criminal law in the Anglo-American world. It is not enough to make the customary compliment that anyone interested in the law of attempts must pay close attention to Duff's latest work. Since attempts provide the vehicle by which Duff raises and discusses more fundamental issues, it is more accurate to say that anyone interested in the philosophical foundations of criminal liability must give 'Criminal Attempts' a central place. No more important contribution to the philosophy of criminal law has been made in this decade./ Douglas Husak, Criminal Law Forum. Duff's new book is nothing short of as rich and full an account of the English law of criminal attempts as one could possibly have wished for in any 'black letter' account of that subject. It would hence be as appropriate for use by the Court of Appeal, as by any graduate philosophy or law class. This makes this new book all the more important, because it proves beyond any doubt that to engage in significant legal debate about the scope of criminal attempts can and should be, in part, to engage with the philosophy of action. Traditionalists, who claim to rely not on philosophy but solely on what they take to be common sense, ought to regard Duff's analysis as required reading, before revising their own textbooks and commentaries./ Jeremy Horder, Law Quarterly Review 'Criminal Attempts' brings criminal law a wonderfully thorough investigation of notoriously difficult issues in the philosophy of language, the philosophy of punishment, and the philosophy of action at their junction with morality.../ With this book, Duff shows us a way out of the many confusions currently dogging the law of attempts, and he does so with enviable clarity and rigour.../ 'Criminal Attempts' deserves careful scrutiny and ought to be used as as state of the art guide to the bridges between philosophy of language, action theory, and aspects of the criminal law beyond criminal attempts./ Keith Culver, Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence.