Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (4th ed, 1770, vol IV).djvu/19

Ch. 1. make ample atisfaction, as well for the private injury, as for the public wrong.

the whole we may oberve, that in taking cognizance of all wrongs, or unlawful acts, the law has a double view : viz. not only to redres the party injured, by either retoring to him his right, if poible ; or by giving him an equivalent ; the manner of doing which was the object of our enquiries in the preceding book of thee commentaries : but alo to ecure to the public the benefit of ociety, by preventing or punihing every breach and violation of thoe laws, which the overeign power has thought proper to etablih, for the government and tranquillity of the whole. What thoe breaches are, and how prevented or punihed, are to be conidered in the preent book.

nature of crimes and midemenors in general being thus acertained and ditinguihed, I proceed in the next place to conider the general nature of punihments : which are evils or inconveniencies conequent upon crimes and midemenors ; being devied, denounced, and inflicted by human laws, in conequence of diobedience or mibehaviour in thoe, to regulate whoe conduct uch laws were repectively made. And herein we will briefly conider the power, the end, and the meaure of human punihment.

to the power of human punihment, or the right of the temporal legilator to inflict dicretionary penalties for crimes and midemenors. It is clear, that the right of punihing crimes againt the law of nature, as murder and the like, is in a tate of mere nature veted in every individual. For it mut be veted in omebody ; otherwie the laws of nature would be vain and fruitles, if none were empowered to put them in execution : and if that power is veted in any one, it mut alo be veted in all mankind ; ince all are by nature equal. Whereof Rh