Author Description

Publisher description: "The Lao Penal Code, promulgated in 2017, is the main repository of the criminal law of the country. This book comprises a commentary on the Code's provisions dealing with the general principles of criminal responsibility, and describes the main offences against persons and property. The methodology used in this book involves comparing the Lao Penal Code provisions with the Penal Codes of France, Thailand and Singapore. France was chosen for comparison because of its historical connection with Laos as well as having one of the most influential European codes. The law of Thailand is worthy of study because it is a neighbouring country with strong social, cultural, religious and historical connections with Laos. Singapore has been selected because it is a progressive Southeast Asian country with a common law tradition. This comparative law approach is used to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the Lao law. It informs and promotes debates about improving the Lao Penal Code by proposing, where needed, reform of the general principles and selected provisions. The inspiration to use the comparative law method came from a three-day workshop on Criminal Law conducted by Professors Chan and Yeo in Vientiane under the auspices of the Inter-University Cooperation Project Laos-Luxembourg in July 2022. The participants comprised criminal law lecturers from various Lao universities and the National Institute of Justice. They gave overwhelmingly positive feedback to the comparative law approach and expressed the wish to have a textbook with such comparative material. This book aims to serve two main groups of users. First, we hope that it will be a critical source of reference for Lao judges, legal practitioners, prosecutors, government officials, legal academics and other interested parties in the criminal law and criminal justice system. Second, as evinced by the responses of the workshop participants, we hope that it will constitute a much needed p