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Insa
Incompetency
Punishment in alienam personam
to save the convict. The general prejudice of mankind
as we have before observed, leads them to exaggeration
on them in the judgement they pronounce of the general
tenor of a man's character; from a single action:
in particular to spread the stain that a single
act of delinquency brings upon a man's character
farther than according to reason it ought to go.
It is from having been the dupes as I take it of this prejudice
that even judges, the antient who first laid
down the law upon this point, first broached brought af this
rule. It may always be expected to work at least
as strongly as it ought to work upon Juries taken
from the body of the people.
Were it then abolished, the conduct of Juries
The above are proper
as objections
not to the competency
but only to
credibility then you think, would nearly be the same as if it
subsisted?... I think it probable,-- What profit advantage
then would you gain by the abolition?... This
great one. The chance that a delinquent might
have of impunity in such a case would no
longer be visible upon paper: he would no longer
see a formal licence given him by the letter of
the law to committ all manner of wickedness in
presence of [such an object] an object circumstanced
like the party in question: if a guilty person were
aquitted upon that ground it would appear
as if upon the whole story was not credible, and
that in fact as no such crime was committed as was
charged, not having been committed it was
suffer'd to go unpunished. This then is the advantage
and I think a great cannot more conclusive will be required to justify
justify any institution
Identifier: | JB/141/147/002 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 141.
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not numbered |
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141 |
rationale of punishment |
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147 |
punishment in alienam personam |
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002 |
incompetency |
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text sheet |
2 |
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recto |
f60 / f61 |
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jeremy bentham |
l v g |
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caroline vernon |
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48364 |
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