Box 159 contains a wealth of manuscript material on the subject of punishment, which was an area that occupied a significant proportion of Bentham’s attention in the mid-1770s to the mid-1780s. It was in this material that he developed his arguments in favour of a penal system where every offence would be stipulated in written legislation and where every punishment would be proportionate. More specifically, he argued that the extent to which an offender ought to be punished could be calculated by balancing the pain that had been sustained, or would be likely to be sustained, against the pain that would be avoided, or would be likely to be avoided, by all interested parties, and by the society as a whole. Importantly, Box 159 also contains portions of the material that Bentham wrote in French and headed ‘Projet’ during the same period and several bifolios that he intended for ‘Crit. Jur. Crim.’ (or ‘Critique of Criminal Jurisprudence’).

The material comprises:

• Folios 1 to 8: Punishment - Ch. I Definitions and distinctions [marginals]; 1811
• Folios 9 to 86: Punishment distinguished and defined; 1775, 1811
• Folios 87 to 93: C. Punishment analysed into its various possible modes; [c. 1775]
• Folios 94 to 95: Punishment - one lot may serve for all three purposes; [c. 1775-78]
• Folio 96: Punishment - convertibility to profit [c. 1775-78]
• Folios 97 to 103: Punishment - simple models; [c. 1775-78]
• Folios 104 to 107: Punishment - ends of punishment; 1778
• Folios 108 to 242: Punishment - Expense, measure, analogy, lex talionis, popularity, simple afflictive punishment, complex afflictive punishments; 1775
• Folio 243: [Punishment] - Introduction to Book III; 1775
• Folios 244 to 245: [Peines] - Recompenses, Peines subsidiaires - projet matière [in French; c. 1780]
• Folios 246 to 261: Peines - projet [in French; c. 1785]
• Folios 262 to 270: Punishment; Crit. Jur. Crim. pp. 97-124, 153-160; [c. 1775-76]

Folios from box 159 which have already been partially or fully transcribed are listed under the progress bar below.

Box 159 Progress: Transcription begun

Untranscribed: 27
In Progress: 5
Ready For Review: 0
Completed: 484
Total: 516

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