The Genesis of the Canadian Criminal Code of 1892 . Desmond H. Brown. Toronto: Published for the Osgoode Society by University of Toronto, 1989, pp. 253.

Desmond Brown's account of the genesis of the Criminal Code of 1892 coincides interestingly with modem-day efforts at Criminal Code reform. For this reason alone the book will attract the attention of modem-day law reformers. Its account of the political dynamic behind the passage of the first Canadian Code is of special interest: it is a tale of dramatic accomplishment, but one which resulted as much from stratagems as from merit, and perhaps necessarily so. Re-codification in our time proposes changes no less dramatic; what must necessarily happen to realize such changes remains to be seen.