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I speak now of State Libels — Those to whom
it belongs, are as ready to punish as can be wished libels
they have always been so. It is natural.
Meantime neither they nor any one else, I
speak it without exception has told, nor
ever can they tell, as 1 the 3 Law 4 stands, 2 at present,
what a State-libel is.
If in a constitution like this there is such a thing as a State Libel
if it does more harm than it does good,
[it is very fit that + + the guilty those who publish them write <add>are guilty of them</add> should
be punished: but it is altogether as fit that
a man should know what it is to be guilty.]
There is one thing that is [very] perfectly fit[ting] right It is that
the guilty should be punished — But there is
What shall a man to to be read also another thing that is fitting: It is that
a man should be able to know what to do
so as to be innocent+ + I speak of those who write, & write upon state-matters — that this no man has told —
that this no man knows.
What I know of the matter I will tell speak — I will tell it
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I have considered the cases. I have framed my
Definition — It is this —
A State-Libel is that said written of a Statesman
For if any one to whom it belongs to understand these matters — should have framed to himself the Definition & ask me I am about to give — he will take good care how he tells it. [or a number of Statesmen] which is of State-
measures & therefore thence of a Statesman,
which he does not like
If I am asked what is a Statesman, what
are State-measures I have nothing to say reply
I must be pressed no farther. The Law has
never told me. How is it I should know
A State-Libel is this libel said written of a Statesman
which he does not like, because a Libel is
that written against any man which he
does not like — For a Libel is something
written & the being written makes a thing
otherwise innocent, a crime.
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Identifier: | JB/070/186/001"JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 70. |
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070 |
of laws in general |
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186 |
scandal state |
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001 |
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text sheet |
1 |
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recto |
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jeremy bentham |
[[watermarks::gr [crown motif] [britannia with shield motif]]] |
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23301 |
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