from the Nuffield Foundation, all the offences listed in the 1975 edition. of Stone's Justices' Manual have been reduced to computer-readable form, classified by statutory origin, mode of trial, maximum penalty, mens rea required, and the head of public policy which each of them is assumed to serve.
No such exhaustive taxonomy of the English criminal statute law has ever before been attempted, and our special thanks are due to John Doris, who has devoted much of his spare time during the year to its preparation, and whose patience must have been sorely tried by it on many occasions. IBM (UK) Ltd. have also been most generous in putting their data preparation facilities at our disposal.
The result forms a unique collection of material, which is now available to the Committee to conduct research on our criminal law which has never been practicable before. With the appropriate computer programs, it will now be possible to ask such questions as "What are the offences known to English law which consist solely of a failure to give information, without any dishonest (or other) intent, which were enacted more than 75 years ago, and which carry a maximum penalty of £25 or less?"--and to obtain an accurate answer within seconds.
The Committee's next task will be to specify questions of this kind, arrange for the necessary computer programs to be written, and to make its recommendations and prepare its report in the light of the answers. The Committee hopes to be able to complete its task within the year. The members of the Committee are: Paul Sieghart (Chairman), Mrs. Leslie Bonham Carter, Chief Inspector Donald Carter, John Clitheroe, Anthony Cripps Q.C., Sir Denis Dobson Q.C., Lord Foot, Tom Harper, Mrs Mary Hayes, Clifford Hindley, Prof. R. M. Jackson, B. J. Reason, Alec Samuels and Ronald Briggs (Secretary).
In addition, the Committee has access to the advice of Crown Court judges and to the Home Office, and Dr. Bryan Niblett, Professor of Computing Science at the University College of Swansea, is available to advise it on matters of computing.
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
This year the Committee has two reports to its credit: The Citizen and the Public Agencies-Remedying Grievances and Our Fettered Ombudsman. The first was prepared by a sub-committee of which Professor Garner was Chairman; the second was prepared by the whole Committee. Both are considered below.
Sub-committees are now studying the Commission for Local Administration and special inquiries.
As in previous years the Committee has dealt with a wide variety of other matters and has been in communication with Parliamentary Committees, Government Departments and other bodies.
Complaints against Statutory Agencies
In September of last year we published an important report entitled The Citizen and the Public Agencies: Remedying Grievances. A generous
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