Coercive rules and their implementation are, in liberal democratic societies at least, subject to ethical constraints. The state's moral authority requires these constraints to be both cogent and effectively realized in doctrine. In short, the enterprise of subjecting individuals to coercive rules must be consistent with the delivery of criminal justice. Contemporary criminal theory is much exercised by the apparent contradictions and ambiguities characterizing criminal law doctrine. Is this an inevitable part of the territory leading us to the question the very possibility of criminal law...