class-based corporate capitalism vs. consensus-based criminal law  criminal law is reserved for intentional violations of those values that constitute our social fabric, thoe values that reflect our shared morality. while we are clear that it is wrong for individuals to kill others without appropriate reason, such as self-defence, or without lack of capacity to form the requisite intent, and we know that it is wrong for individuals to assault other persons physically or sexually, not much else is clear. shared morality is an elusive concept. indeed, serious scholars offer mushy definitions. in one of the more famous formulations of the dominant approach, lord devlin argued that we know that conduct needs to be treated as criminal when the reasonable man or woman thinks the conduct is unacceptable to our moral fabric and threatens to tear that fabric. how we are to know who the reasonable person is, what she or he thinks, or whether or not this thinking is reasonable is left to be determined by luminaries such as lord devlin, to politicians and to judges. this kind of formulation leaves everything up in the air and, worse, subject to manipulation.
Canada