ABSTRACT
It will be seen, as this chapter develops, that the legislation prohibiting insider dealing took quite a long time in arriving on the statute book in the UK given that the basic mischief it was intended to prevent had been recognised and commented on as being undesirable for many years. Whatever the ‘economic’ arguments1 in favour of or against it, insider dealing has been prevalent as a ‘City’ practice for some time.2 The extent to which this contributed to the length of time it took a succession of governments to make it subject to the criminal law can only be speculated upon. If it did, it would not be the first time that ‘City’ opposition has prevented, or at least delayed, the elected government of the day3 in taking action against dubious ‘market’ practices.4
