Crimes and Punishments

‘A book which is really both instructive and amusing, and which will open a new field of thought to many readers.’—ATHENÆUM.

‘An admirable example of the application of the scientific method and the working of the truly scientific spirit.’—SATURDAY REVIEW.

CHATTO & WINDUS, Piccadilly, W.

CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS

INCLUDING A NEW TRANSLATION OF BECCARIA’S ‘DEI DELITTI & DELLE PENE’

BY JAMES ANSON FARRER

[Illustration]

London CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY 1880

All rights reserved

PREFACE.

The reason for translating afresh Beccaria’s ‘Dei Delitti e delle Pene’ (‘Crimes and Punishments’) is, that it is a classical work of its kind, and that the interest which belongs to it is still far from being merely historical.

It was translated into English long ago; but the change in the order of the several chapters and paragraphs, which the work underwent before it was clothed in its final dress, is so great, that the new translation and the old one really constitute quite different books.

The object of the preliminary chapters is to place the historical importance of the original in its just light, and to increase the interest of the subjects it discusses.

The Translator has abstained from all criticism or comment of the original, less from complete agreement with all its ideas than from the conviction that annotations are more often vexatious than profitable, and are best left to the reader to make for himself. There is scarcely a sentence in the book on which a commentator might not be prolix.

To combine the maximum of perspicuity with the maximum of fidelity to the original has been the cardinal principle observed in the translation. But it would, of course, have been no less impossible than contrary to the spirit of the original to have attempted to render perfectly comprehensible what the author purposely wrapped in obscurity. A translation can but follow the lights and shades of the surface it reflects, rendering clear what is clear in the original, and opaque what is opaque.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

CHAPTER I.

BECCARIA’S LIFE AND CHARACTER.

State of Lombardy under Count Firmian—The state of criminal law—Torture still in use—The abolition of torture before Beccaria—Beccaria not a lawyer by profession—Autobiographical letter of Beccaria to the Abbé Morellet—Influence on Beccaria of Montesquieu and Helvetius—His philosophy of life and truth—His friends, the Verri—Connection with Pietro Verri—The Caffé periodical—Reception of the ‘Dei Delitti’ in Paris—Translation of it by Morellet—Commentary by Voltaire—The Swiss medal—Beccaria’s fear of ecclesiastical persecution a motive for occasional obscurity—Feeling in Venice against the author—Facchinei’s criticism—Protection of Count Firmian—Adverse criticism by contemporary lawyers—Ramsay’s letter to Diderot, illustrative of the despair of reform—Beccaria’s journey to Paris—His speedy return—Enmity and jealousy of Pietro Verri—Beccaria’s invitation to St. Petersburg—His lectures on political economy, and later life 1

CHAPTER II.

THE GENERAL INFLUENCE OF BECCARIA ON LEGISLATION.

Present inconceivability of torture due to Beccaria—How far he was the first to write against it—Torture first abolished in England—Beccaria’s influence in Russia—Quotations from his treatise in Catharine’s instruction for the new code—Beccaria’s influence in France; Tuscany; Austria; Pennsylvania—Beccaria the first advocate of the abolition of capital punishment—Relative severity of death and other penalties—Slight relation of crime to punishment—Reasons why capital punishment is always more uncertain than other penalties—Cases accounting for its uncertainty—The efficiency of a punishment its real test—Futility of discussing the general right of punishment—Instances of the abolition of capital punishment in ancient and modern times—The argument for its abolition the same as that for the abolition of torture 29

CHAPTER III.

THE INFLUENCE OF BECCARIA IN ENGLAND.

General debt of English law to Beccaria—English utilitarianism due to Beccaria—His influence first traceable in Blackstone—Fallacy of old criminal law in making the amount of temptation the measure of punishment—Eden the first to expose it in his ‘Principles of Penal Law’—Attitude of men of letters to the criminal law, as of Goldsmith, Lord Kames, and Fielding—First attempt at law reform by Sir W. Meredith—Constant opposition of the House of Lords—Effect on reform of Madan’s ‘Executive Justice’ and Paley’s chapter on Crimes and Punishments—Relation of Paley to Lord Chief Justice Ellenborough—Paley’s defence of English law—His approval of the suggestion of throwing murderers into a den of wild beasts—Howard’s ideas of reform and contribution to it—Bad effect of the French Revolution in England—Romilly’s original idea of reform—His Privately Stealing Bill—His criticism of Paley—His Shoplifting Bill rejected by the Lords—The pillory defended by Lord Ellenborough—Capital punishment for forgery by Lord Tenterden—Rapid changes after the Reform Bill—The triumph of Beccaria’s principles 46