An Introduction To The Principles Of Morals & Legislation by Morals
Author:Morals [Morals]
Language: ita
Format: epub
Tags: Morals
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00
Chapter XIII: Cases Unmeet for Punishment
§ 1. General view of cases unmeet for punishment.
I. The general object which all laws have, or ought to have, in common, is to augment the total happiness of the community; and therefore, in the first place, to exclude, as far as may be, every thing that tends to subtract from that happiness: in other words, to exclude mischief.
II. But all punishment is mischief: all punishment in itself is evil.
Upon the principle of utility, if it ought at all to be admitted, it ought only to be admitted in as far as it promises to exclude some greater evil.
III. It is plain, therefore, that in the following cases punishment ought not to be inflicted.
7.Where it is groundless: where there is no mischief for it to prevent; the act not being mischievous upon the whole.
8.Where it must be inefficacious: where it cannot act so as to prevent the mischief.
9.Where it is unprofitable, or too expensive: where the mischief it would produce would be greater than what it prevented.
10.Where it is needless: where the mischief may be prevented, or cease of itself, without it: that is, at a cheaper rate.
§ 2. Cases in which punishment is groundless.
These are,
IV. 1. Where there has never been any mischief: where no mischief has been produced to any body by the act in question. Of this number are those in which the act was such as might, on a some occasions, be mischievous or disagreeable, but the person whose interest it concerns gave his consent to the performance of it. This consent, provided it be Principles of Morals and Legislation/135
free, and fairly obtained, is the best proof that can be produced, that, to the person who gives it, no mischief, at least no immediate mischief, upon the whole, is done. For no man can be so good a judge as the man himself, what it is gives him pleasure or displeasure.
V. 2. Where the mischief was outweighed: although a mischief was produced by that act, yet the same act was necessary to the production of a benefit which was of greater value than the mischief. This may be the case with any thing that is done in the way of precaution against instant calamity, as also with any thing that is done in the exercise of the several sorts of powers necessary to be established in every community, to wit, domestic, judicial, military, and supreme.
VI. 3. Where there is a certainty of an adequate compensation: and that in all cases where the offense can be committed. This supposes two things: 1. That the offence is such as admits of an adequate compensation: 2. That such a compensation is sure to be forthcoming. Of these suppositions, the latter will be found to be a merely ideal one: a supposition that cannot, in the universality here given to it, be verified by fact.
It cannot, therefore, in practice, be numbered amongst the grounds of absolute impunity. It may, however, be admitted as a ground
Download
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.
Comparative | Conflict of Laws |
Customary | Gender & the Law |
Judicial System | Jurisprudence |
Natural Law | Non-US Legal Systems |
Science & Technology |
American Kingpin by Nick Bilton(3513)
Future Crimes by Marc Goodman(3377)
The Meaning of the Library by unknow(2395)
Inside the Middle East by Avi Melamed(2234)
Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty by Daron Acemoglu & James Robinson(2181)
On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder(2130)
Living Silence in Burma by Christina Fink(1988)
Putin's Labyrinth(1903)
The Mastermind by Evan Ratliff(1831)
The Smartest Kids in the World by Amanda Ripley(1687)
Think Like a Rocket Scientist by Ozan Varol(1687)
Law: A Very Short Introduction by Raymond Wacks(1638)
It's Our Turn to Eat by Michela Wrong(1595)
The Rule of Law by Bingham Tom(1595)
Leadership by Doris Kearns Goodwin(1567)
A Dirty War by Anna Politkovskaya(1544)
Philosophy of law a very short introduction by Raymond Wacks(1543)
Social Media Law in a Nutshell by Ryan Garcia & Thaddeus A Hoffmeister(1451)
Civil Procedure (Aspen Casebooks) by Stephen C. Yeazell(1441)
