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7
Of the Lex Talionis
probably to own it to be consonant to Justice: but
that Justice, they will say, is rigid Justice, or to
vary the jargon, Justice in the abstract. All this
which they will prefer perhaps a milder punishment
as being more consonant to Mercy, and upon the
whole more conductive to Utility general Happiness: as if Justice, and
especially Penal Justice were a thing distinct from
and at variance with Utility. Where however
it happens not to give disgust by it's severity
nothing can be more popular than this plan of
punishment. This may be seen in the case
of Murder. The attachment to it in this instance
is warm and general. Blood, as the phrase is,
will have Blood. Unless a Murderer be punished
with Death, the multitude of speculators
will with difficulty bring themselves to think that
Justice is done the rules of Justice are pursued.
There are two principles on which this attachment
seems to be founded in the breasts of popular
speculators: each both of them connected in some way or
other with the circumstances of analogy. One is the
influence of that circumstance upon the mind of
the speculator; it leading him to pass readily from the
idea of the punishment crime offence to that of the punishment,
and thence concluding to conclude the connection to be natural,
dictated
Identifier: | JB/159/132/003 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 159.
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159 |
punishment |
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132 |
of the lex talionis |
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003 |
exemplarity / variability / subserviency to reformation / simplicity / popularity |
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text sheet |
4 |
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recto |
f5 / f6 / f7 / f8 |
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jeremy bentham |
[[watermarks::l v g propatria [britannia motif]]] |
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caroline vernon |
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53955 |
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