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12 Homicide.
Friendly Sympathythe action of which the party befriended stood exposed. The
killer places himself in the situation of the friend whom
he means to benefit by the crime.
Instances of Homicide from this motive are so uncommon in the
present state of things, that the supposition of such
an instance seems a strained one. It is the force of
the moral sanction as much as any thing that strengthens
the bonds of friendship. But the Law of Morality is at present so generally acknowledged to further absolutely
the [alteration of friendship at such a price]
making such sacrifices to friendship, that when an
act of Homicide is committed, men would be more apt
to attribute it to any other motive than to this.
In the early ages of society it was otherwise. The moral
Sanction had not then contracted that close alliance with
the political which it has done since. Friendship was
then a source of a multitude of crimes which now
either do not make their appearance at all, or if they
do, arise issue from ignoble motives. As civilization
advances, a loss the virtues of men lose somewhat of their force
along with the vices: but upon the whole society is far
from being a loser by the change.
Not that the cause instance of Homicide issuing from the motive
is even now absolutely unexampled. Many very powerful
causes of friendship act with peculiar force in the society
of common Malefactors. Malefactors have their common
interest as "good men and true" have theirs.
It is but too common a case to see a malefactor take
or at least attempt to take a bloody revenge for the prosecution
of his friends.
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Identifier: | JB/072/148/004"JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 72. |
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not numbered |
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072 |
penal code |
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148 |
homicide |
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004 |
mischief public |
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text sheet |
4 |
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recto |
e9 / e10 / e11 / e12 |
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jeremy bentham |
[[watermarks::[gr with crown motif] pro patria [with motif]]] |
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23765 |
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