Page:Ruffhead - The Statutes at Large, 1763.djvu/25

Rh curious Learning, and may often serve the Purpose of historical Proof and illlustration.

It is indeed to be lamented, that our Penal Laws are so numerous; but perhaps this is an Inconvenience unavoidably resulting from the wide and extensive Concerns of a commercial Kingdom. Though a State confined within a narrow Sphere of Action, may be very vicious, yet the Modes of Vice will not there be greatly diversified: Offences will multiply, as the Pursuits and Occupations of Mankind grow more various and diffusive: And in a Kingdom so jealous of its Liberty, as to leave as little as possible to discretionary Power, every Offence must be precisely described, therefore it is well observed by Montesquieu, that the Multiplicity of our Laws is a Price we pay for our Freedom

On this Occasion, however, it may not be improper to observe, that our Statute Laws, with respect to criminal Offences, seem to breathe too much the Spirit of Draco's; all Degrees of Offence being confounded, and all Proportion of Punishment destroyed: Whence many Delinquents are, with cruel Precipitancy, hurried out of the World for slight Tranfgressions, who, by prudent and adequate Correction, might be made useful to themselves and to Society.

Men bewildered in the Maze of Stoic Sophistry, may revolt against the obvious Principles of Nature, and contend for the Necessity of commutative Justice: But Reason evidently declares, that Punishments should, as nearly as poslible, bear Proportion to the Offences committed: And though this Rule cannot, in some Cases, be strictly adhered to, yet it ought, in general, to be the guiding Principle.

Adjit Regula, peccatis quæ poenas irroget æquas:

Nec scutica dignum, horribili sectere flagello.

Experience sufficiently evinces, that extraordinary Severity has never produced any lasting Effect. It has indeed been sometimes found to check the Evil for a Time, but then, as Montesquieu observes, it has returned with the same Violence as before. To render the intended Effects permanent, the Laws should be adapted to the Genius of the People, and the Nature of the Constitution: And it would be a Task well worthy the Wisdom of the Legislature, so to model them that they may better answer the true Ends of Government, which are to prevent, rather than to punish Crimes per