ABSTRACT
The distinction between war and crime is a product of the evolution of the modern state. Before the consolidation of the modern system of nation states there were only really varieties of war: war between kings and princes, feuds and vendettas between communities and interpersonal disputes settled in various ways. Even in the early stages of development of the modern European state, serious crime, as Foucault (1977) famously showed, was seen as a variety of rebellion or war on the Sovereign and punishment a variety of revenge on the body of the offender.
