JB/010/040/002

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18

I say or the existence of it regarded as
probable. And here comes in another case
of the rationale. In this country not to speak
of others what is certain is that to the great
body of the people the tenor of the penal
Law is as compleatly unknown as if it
never had been written. With the most perfect
composure lawyers judges not concepted
have been heard to argue seriously
for the extensions so continually given
to the punishment of death. On what
ground? On the ground viz. that it is
only in the case that people entertain
any such conception as that in case
of their doing what is meant to be prevented
punishment will follow. On this
supposition the only rational course will
be that of which Draco has the credit
viz. the making every offence capital:
for in that case you need not be as
much as at the expense of printing
for your law: make your law and
keep on hanging every man will
understand it. Yet, without much compunction
people in general, even we
ourselves see men punished as for

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the transgression of these Laws with
which none of them had it even in their
power to be acquainted. Why? Because
the Acts acts in question are such that either
in consideration of the mischief produced
from him or from the habit of seeing
men punished or reprobated for
them are regarded as scandalous or
as we say prohibited by the popular
or moral sanction. Yet to no sad an
extent is the field of law covered with
punishments attached to offences in yr
instance of which their being so dealt
with by either the legal or the moral
sanction is more than the consummate
ingenuity aided by the soundest judgment
and the most extensive knowledge
would be able to devine.

Take for examples the cases of
simple mental injuries and imposition
of expense as above mentioned.
Suppose an individual instance in
which on the one hand the mischief as
well as the malignity that gave birth
to it is great and on the other hand
the punishment not very severe.

Identifier: | JB/010/040/002 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 10.
Date_1		Marginal Summary Numbering
Box	010	Main Headings
Folio number	040	Info in main headings field
Image	002	Titles
Category	correspondence	Number of Pages	4
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	f17 / f18 / f19 / f20
Penner	john herbert koe	Watermarks	john dickinson & c<…> 1813
Marginals		Paper Producer	a. levy
Corrections	jeremy bentham	Paper Produced in Year	1813
Notes public	draft of letter 2425, vol. 9	ID Number	3476
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