^20 Mr. 'Turner on Crimes and Punljhments, 



the punifhmcnt of tranfportation. The reafon 

 of this isj that if the whole piece be taken, 

 it may eafily be known by the marks of the 

 maker, but if the piece be cut, the marks are 

 loft, and the theft cannot be fo eafily difcovered. 

 And this principle was formerly carried fo far 

 in the Ifle of Man, as Judge Blackftone informs 

 us, * that " ftealing a horfe or a cow was only 

 *' profecuted as a trefpafs, on account of the 

 " difficulty of conveying them out of the ifland, or 

 " of fecreting them in that fmall territory ; while 

 " ftealing a pig or a fowl was made a capital 

 *' crime, as fo fmall an animal might eafily 

 " be devoured or concealed." This laft inftance 

 is adduced, only to fliew how far a principle 

 which is good, wheri moderately applied, may be 

 flretched into abfurd feverity. 



Thus we fee, that whereas the frequency of 

 any crime, and the other temptations to its com- 

 miffion, lejfen its moral enormity, and confe- 

 quently diminifti its punifliment ; thefe circum- 

 ftances, on the other hand, increafe the foUtical' 

 enormity of an offence, and confequently increafe 

 the puniftiment alfo. 



At the fame time, it muft be acknowledged, 

 to be a very difficult part of the province of the 

 human law-giver, fo to proportion puniJJmtents to 

 offences, as to keep clear, on the one hand, of 



• Comm. Book IV. C. i, 



the 



