Punishment and responsibility

This collection of essays represents the main contribution made by H. L. A. Hart in the last ten years to the theory of punish ment and the critical study of legal criteria of responsibility. Some of the essays are concerned with the analysis of specific psychological conditions of responsibility, such as intention, 'acts of will', and negligence, or of the general ideas of respon sibility and retribution; other essays are concerned with the justification of theories which restrict liability to punishment by reference to psychological conditions, or of newer theories which would eliminate restrictions.

To each of these essays Professor Hart has added extensive notes and references to criticisms of his own views, to alterna tive theories, and to new developments in the law. An Appendix to this reprint gives the main statistical arguments used in the Parliamentary debates that resulted in the abolition of the death penalty in December 1969.