For this seventh edition I am delighted to be joined by Professor Jeremy Horder. He has undertaken most of the revisions for this edition, and I am grateful to him for bringing his deep knowledge and understanding of the criminal law to bear on the text. There have been considerable developments both in the law and in scholarship in the four years since the last edition. Thus, for example, the homicide provisions of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 have begun to be interpreted by the courts, and there have been substantial developments in the law on complicity. These and other changes have been taken into account, and it is hoped that statements of the law were correct at 1 December 2012. The general layout and order of chapters remain unchanged for this edition. The context and functions of the criminal law are outlined in Chapter 1, and Chapter 2 on criminalization examines reasons for creating or for not creating criminal laws. Chapter 3 then discusses key principles and policies relevant to the criminal law. In Chapters 4, 5, and 6, the ‘general part’ elements of culpability, justification, and excuse are analysed: Chapter 4 deals generally with actus reus questions, Chapter 5 is devoted to criminal capacity (insanity, infancy, and corporate liability) as well as to mens rea issues, and Chapter 6 deals with excusatory defences. Three areas of the special part of the criminal law are then selected for examination: Chapter 7 deals with homicide, Chapter 8 with non-fatal physical violations