JB/141/010/001

Click Here To Edit

6
B.1. Ch.5.

Rule 3. When two Offences come in competition
the punishment for the greater Offence must be
sufficient to induce a man to prefer the less.

Two Offences may be said to be in
competition, when it is in the power of an individual
to commit both. When thieves break into a house
they may execute their purpose in different manners
by simply stealing, by theft accompanied with
bodily injury, or murder, or incendiarism. If the
punishment is the same for simple theft, as for
theft and murder you give the thieves a motive
for committing murder, because this crime adds to
the facility of committs his the facility of committing the former & the chance of impunity
and t when it is committed.

This rule would be perfectly observed if for every
portion of mischief a corresponding portion of punishment
were appointed. If the thief who steals 10 Crowns
is not punished more than he would steals only five
crowns, the stealing of the last five crowns is an
unpunished offence. –

One great inconvenience of inflicting resulting from the infliction of great
punishments for small offences, is that the power
of increasing them in proportion to the magnitude of the offence is thereby lost.(1)

(1) Montesquieu, after having recommended this rule of
proportion adds – "Quand il n'y a point de difference dans
"la peine, il faut en mettre, dans l’esperance de la grâce; en
"Angleterre, on n’assassine point (il auroit du dire peu), parce
"que les voleurs peuvent esperer d être transportés dans les
"colonies, non pas les assassines." Esprit des Lois , VI. Ch. XVI.

This expectation of favour, no doubt, contributes to the effect
of which he speaks, but why should this manifest imperfection
in the laws remain, that it may be corrected by an arbitrary act
of the sovereign? – If an uncertain fa advantage produces this
measure of good, a certain advantage would operate more
surely.

Identifier: | JB/141/010/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 141.
Date_1		Marginal Summary Numbering
Box	141	Main Headings	rationale of punishment
Folio number	010	Info in main headings field
Image	001	Titles	rule 3
Category	copy/fair copy sheet	Number of Pages	2
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	f6 / f3
Penner	richard smith	Watermarks	[[watermarks::[britannia with shield emblem]]]
Marginals		Paper Producer
Corrections		Paper Produced in Year
Notes public		ID Number	48227
Box Contents