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About
Jeremy Horder is Professor of Criminal Law at the LSE. He graduated from the Universities of Hull (1984) and Oxford (1986) before taking up a Research Fellowship at Jesus College, Oxford, from 1987-1989. He then became the Porjes Trust Tutorial Fellow in Law at Worcester College, Oxford, from 1989-2010. He was Chairman of Oxford’s Faculty of Law from 1998-2000. From 2005-2010, he was a Law Commissioner for England and Wales, with responsibility for criminal law reform, before becoming Edmund Davies Professor of Criminal Law at King’s College London, from 2010-2013. He is an Honorary Bencher of the Middle Temple and holds an Honorary LL.D from the University of Hull.
Research
Research Interests
History, philosophy and politics of English criminal law, and criminal law reform. More particularly, homicide, bribery and corruption, and the intersection of criminal law and other forms of sanction.
Publications
Criminal Fraud and Election Disinformation: Law and Politics (Oxford University Press, 2022)
Criminal Fraud and Election Disinformation is about the state's approach to fraud and distortion of the truth in politics, especially during election campaigns. Deliberate mischaracterisation of political opponents and their policies has always been a part of politics; however, lying, dishonesty, and distortion of the facts remain morally wrong and have the potential to obstruct important political interests. For example, a false or misleading claim publicised about an election candidate may lead someone to lose an election that they might otherwise have won. So, does-and should-the law seek to provide protection from the risk of this happening, by directly prohibiting the making of false or misleading political claims, or by obliging internet platforms to censor such content?
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Criminal Misconduct in Office (Oxford University Press, 2018)
Should the criminal law be used to deter and punish corruption in politics: from employing family members at public expense to improper spending on elections, lobbying, and cronyism? How did so many MPs avoid facing charges after the 2009 government expenses scandal? In this book, Jeremy Horder tackles these questions and more. As well as offering the first treatment of the history, philosophy, and politics of the application of the offence of misconduct in office to Members of Parliament in England and Wales, Horder explains how political corruption might be dealt with in future, and how politicians could be held accountable for their actions so that they are deterred from betraying the public's trust.
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Principles of Criminal Law (8th Edition, Oxford University Press, 2016)
This book seeks to explain major crimes and doctrines in criminal law. The law is analysed in the light of key principles of criminal law, such as the principle of maximum certainty, the right to a fair trial, and other important human rights principles.
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Modern Bribery Law (Cambridge University Press, 2013) (co-edited with Peter Alldridge)
This collection of essays considers the recent radical reform of bribery law in the UK, and sets these developments in a European and International context, with contributions from practitioners as well as scholars.
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Homicide and the Politics of Law Reform (Oxford University Press, 2012)
This book critically examines many aspects of the law of homicide, and considers the prospects for law reform. A significant theme is way in which the direction of reform has been captured by judges, academic and professional experts, whose views may be at odds with the views of (professionally researched) public opinion. A way is sought to find more space for public opinion in the law reform effort, and to broaden the role of the jury in determining mitigating factors in murder cases.
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Excusing Crime (Oxford University Press, 2004)
This book seeks to distinguish between different kinds of defence to crime, depending on whether the defence is a justification (such as self-defence), an excuse (such as provocation), or an exemption (such as insanity). A distinction is also drawn between excuses (such as duress) where someone remains morally more ‘active’ in relation to their conduct, and cases (such as diminished responsibility) where that person is morally more ‘passive’, due to mental disorder. Problem cases are discussed in which these two phenomena influence one another, leading someone to commit a crime.
- 'Corporate criminal liability under the crime and policing bill 2025: the challenges and flaws of the ‘senior manager’ regime' Criminal Law Review (2025) (forthcoming)
- 'Corporate criminal liability under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023' Legal Studies (2025) 1-16
- ’Senior corporate managers’ criminal liability for the crimes of employees or agents’ in Bone, Child & Rogers (eds.) Criminal Law Reform Now: Proposals and Critique, Volume 2. (Hart Publishing, 2024) 87–107 (with Gabriele Watts)
- 'Criminal fraud and the toleration of false political speech' in Simester, AP, (ed.) Modern Criminal Law: Essays in Honour of GR Sullivan (Bloomsbury, 2024) 97-121
- 'Control over Land and Criminal Pollution: Empress Car Reconsidered’ (2024) Criminal Law Review 227-243.
- 'Should Political Speech Be Prohibited When It Involves Lies?' LSE Law Policy Briefing Paper 51/2022
- 'Criminal Law and Republican Liberty: Philip Pettit’s Account' Criminal Law and Philosophy (2021)
- 'Online Free Speech and the Suppression of False Political Claims' (2021) 8(1) Journal of International and Comparative Law 15-52
- 'The Scope of Liability for Failure to Prevent Economic Crime' (2021) Criminal Law Review 851-65 (with Gabriele Watts, co-author)
- 'Criminal law at the limit: countering false claims in elections and referendums'Modern Law Review (2021) 84 (3) pp.429-455
- 'Using the Criminal Law to Protect Politicians from False Claims' (2020) Studi Senesi 67-83
- 'Ministers' business appointments and criminal misconduct' Crim. L.R. 2019, 4, 272-290 (working paper available at 'Ministers’ Business Appointments and Criminal Misconduct' LSE Law Working Paper Series 21/2018)
- 'Criminal Law and Republican Liberty: Philip Pettit’s Account' LSE Law Working Paper Series 10/2018; published in Criminal Law and Philosophy (2021)
- 'When sexual infidelity triggers murder: examining the impact of homicide law reform on judicial attitudes in sentencing'Cambridge Law Journal (2015) (with Kate Fitz-Gibbon)
- 'Excusing information-provision crimes in the bureaucratic state'Current Legal Problems (2015) 68 (1). pp. 197-227.
- 'How can the criminal law support the provision of quality in healthcare?' BMJ Quality & Safety (2014) (with Karen Yeung)
- 'Bureaucratic ‘Criminal’ Law: Too Much of a Bad Thing?’LSE Law Society and Economy Working Paper Series, 01-2014
- ‘Bureaucratic “Criminal” Law: Too Much of a Bad Thing?’, in R A Duff, Lindsay Farmer, S E Marshall, Massimo Renzo, Victor Tadros (eds), Criminalization: The Political Morality of the Criminal Law (Oxford University Press,2014)
- ‘Deterring Bribery: Law, Regulation and the Export Trade’, in Jeremy Horder and Peter Alldridge (eds) Modern Bribery Law (Cambridge University Press, 2013)
- ‘Criminal Attempt, the Rule of Law, and Accountability in Criminal Law’, in Lucia Zedner and Julian Roberts (eds), Principles in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice: Essays in Honour of Andrew Ashworth (Oxford University Press, 2012)
- ‘On Her Majesty’s Commercial Service: Bribery, Public Officials and the UK Intelligence Services’ (2011) 74 (6) MLR pp.911–931
- ‘Harmless Wrongdoing and the Anticipatory Perspective on Criminalisation’, in Ian Dennis and GR Sullivan (eds), Seeking Security: Pre-empting the Commission of Criminal Harms (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2011)
Teaching
Engagement and impact
Engagement and Impact
As Law Commissioner, I was responsible for the Law Commission Report on bribery reform (Law Com No 313, 2009) and draft Bill, that became the Bribery Act 2010. I advise, and lecture to, a variety of organisations on the importance and implications of the 2010 Act. I am a member of the steering committee for ‘Justice after Acquittal’, a voluntary organisation helping families after one of their members has been unlawfully killed but the main suspect has been acquitted.