THE NEW SELF-DEFENCE LAW: PROGRESSIVE DEVELOPMENT OR STATUS QUO?

Abstract

For more than three decades, feminist law reformers have argued that the law must better account for the different ways that men and women act in self-defence. In R v Lavallee, the Supreme Court agreed. Perhaps it should come as no surprise, then, that when the Conservative government introduced changes to the self-defence provisions in 2011 the amendments would reflect this evolution. In this paper I assess whether the law of selfdefence is stronger now that feminist demands for change have been translated into law. In particular, I ask whether the new provision is likely to produce better results for groups whose self-defence claims have not always been dealt with satisfactorily.