One of the primary contributions of the first edition of EC was the introduction of a model for conceptualizing all legal competencies.
The model was first developed as an intellectual challenge. Could a set of concepts be constructed that would identify a common structure among legal competencies that are encountered throughout criminal and civil law? The model was published as a test of the hypothesis.
Like a good theory, if the model had utility, it would survive and serve a heuristic function for the field across time.The hypothesis seems to have been confirmed. The model has been cited widely and appears to have been useful for both researchers and practitioners across the past 15 years. Experience has identified a few features of the model that were unnecessarily complex. But the basic form of the model has encountered no serious challenges and continues to be of value as a structuring tool.
Therefore, in preparation for the instrument review chapters, the present chapter describes the model almost in the same form and with the same arguments that appeared in the first edition of EC. Where there have been minor changes, they are noted and explained.