JB/067/007/002

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Construction of the Definitions

I have not put the last hand to any definition till after having satisfied myself that on the one hand without difficulty
or violence it included reached over every part of the mischief as exemplified in all the cases I
could [meet with] see & as many more as I could imagine: on the other, that it excluded every case that which
could be brought under any other Title, or that which by the degree of it's diversity from the subject
of the Title in question as well as of every other, merited a Title of it's own.

I am not satisfied that what I have done in these 2 ways is the utmost that can be done
in the matters because I am not satisfied either of the subtlety of my judgments or the
copiousness of my imagination.

I entreat the assistance, of every one who thinks it worth his while to give it me for a
purpose in which we are all interested, to reform the errors of the one, & supply the
deficiencies of the other.

But I have satisfied myself that I myself in the present state of my faculties, can do
no more.

It is an obvious objection – "If the pushing these amplications & making contracting by these
has been the work of so much scrutiny & attention, how do you expect, they should be comprehended
by the people? More interesting to the Peasant than to the Nobleman, than necessarily depends upon their being to the grasp of the means & capacity And they should be upon a level with the

I answer that I do not indeed think that every one could at first have constructed them of their constructions: but when once constructed I do think that they may all be apprehended & retained.

There is here all the difference which there is between making the best grammar possible† † Harris by dr Lowth Qn. in the
morn of the wretched performances which we have a present under that title for most languages
& the apprehending the rules when made. – The former is a task reserved for the most elaborate
judgment – the latter is performed every day by the most ordinary – But these Rules
of Jurisprudence will be much easier apprehended than those of Grammar: 1st because there is much less of them,
2dly because they are more interesting, 3dly because they are less their subject is remote from sense.

I know not what pretension that Aphorism has to the Title of a Definition, which
neither separates Guilt from Innocence, nor one species of Guilt from another.

First many a Make the Definition commensurate to the mischief† † i:e: to the species of pain produced by the several acts included under the term defined: then by comparing it to the cases, two
whether it is commensurate to the idea of the mischief offence resulting from the cases already [that have
been] decided; plus the cases that by combining the other combination of the circumstances of those cases as also of
of other circumstances that may by analogy to the former may be imagined.

Identifier: | JB/067/007/002 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 67.
Date_1		Marginal Summary Numbering
Box	067	Main Headings	law in general
Folio number	007	Info in main headings field	definitions of offences construction of
Image	002	Titles	book i offences in general / construction of the definitions
Category	text sheet	Number of Pages	2
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	/ c1
Penner	jeremy bentham	Watermarks	[[watermarks::j honig & zoonen [lion with vryheyt motif]]]
Marginals		Paper Producer	cc1
Corrections		Paper Produced in Year
Notes public		ID Number	21840
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