546 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION G. 



Eomilly made many subsequent efforts in the same direction, but 

 they were rendered fruitless by the opposition he encountered 

 through this apparent increase of crime. Archdeacon Paley, in 

 his " Moral and Political Philosophy" (a Avork that for many years 

 had, as we all know, immense influence on English thought), 

 approved of the suggestion to " cast murderers into a den of wild 

 beasts, where they would perish in a manner dreadful to the 

 imagination, yet concealed from view," and at the same time 

 protested against the maxim " That it was better for ten guilty 

 men to escape than for one innocent man to perish," and argued 

 that an innocent man being ■ convicted and punished fell for his 

 country, because he was the victim of a system of laws which 

 maintained the safety of the community. When f^uch Avas the 

 teaching of the best minds of the age it is not surprising that it 

 was found difficult to repeal what are now deemed inhuman laws. 

 However, thanks to Beccaria's teachings and the efforts of other 

 himianitarians, including with those previously mentioned the 

 honored names of Mcintosh, Howard, Mrs. Fry, and many others, 

 success eventually ci owned their labors. 



Before concluding this passing glance at our forefathers' ideas 

 and practice in regard to their penal laws it may not be im- 

 interesting to note that they did not end in punishing human 

 beings. In the middle ages pigs, horses, or oxen Avere not only 

 tried judicially like men, with counsel on either side and witnesses, 

 but they were hung on gallows like men, for the better deterrence 

 of their kind in future. (See Mr. Baring Gould's '• Curiosities of 

 Olden Times," title '' Queer Culprits.") This was following the 

 Jewish law which condemned an ox that gored anyone to death 

 to be stoned, just as it condemned the human nuirderer. In 

 Athens an axe or stone that killed anyone by accident was cast 

 beyond the border, and in England a cartwheel, a tree, or a beast 

 that killed a man became forfeit to the State for the benefit of 

 the poor. This custom was called Deodand. (Deodandum, what is 

 due to God.) It is mentioned by Bracton, one of the earliest 

 writers on English laAV, who lived in the reign of Henry III. The 

 translation of his description into English is as follows : — 

 What moves to death, or killed the dead, 

 Is Deodand, and forfeited. 



It was not until 1846 that an Act was passed repealing the 

 custom, declaring it to be unreasonable and inconvenient. Probably 

 this declaration will not be disputed by many. 



Anyone desirous of supping full of the horrors caused by the 

 old penal laws and their administration should read Lecky's " Rise 

 and "influence of Rationalism in Europe." title " Magic and Witch- 

 craft." Past history of punishment proves that although the 

 administration of the Criminal Law Avas marked by footsteps of 

 blood from age to age, it neither cured nor effectually lessened 

 crime. Attention has already been called to some of the reasons 



