CYCLOPEDIA: 



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OR, A NEW 



UNIVERSAL DICTIONARY 



OF 



ARTS and SCIENCES. 



PUNISHMEI r. 



PUNISHMENT, a penalty impofed upon the com- 

 miflion of fome crime or offence againft the laws. 



It is eflential to the nature of a law, that it import or 

 decree a.puniftimcnt to the tranfgreffbrs of it. 



Solon veryjuftly allerted, that the two great ftimulants of 

 human adlion being hope and fear, a good government could 

 not poflibly exift without an equitable fyllem of rewards and 

 punifhments. 



The forms and manners of punilhment are various in va- 

 rious countries and ages, and for various crimes ; as treafon, 

 felony, adultery, parricide, &c. 



There was a time, fays Beccaria, when all punifhments 

 were pecuniary. The crimes of the fubjects were the in- 

 heritance of the prince, fo that an injury done to fociety 

 was a favour to the crown, and the fovcreign and magiitrates, 

 tliofe guardians of the public fecurity, were intereited in 

 the violation of the laws. Crimes were tried at that time 

 in a court of exchequer, and the caufe became a civil fuit 

 between the perfon accufed and the crown. The magif- 

 trate then poiTefled powers that were not neceiTary for the 

 public welfare, and the criminal fuffered punifhments dif- 

 ferent from thofe which the neceffitv of example required. 

 The judge was rather a colleftor for the crown, an agent for 

 the treafury, than a proteftor and minifter of the laws. 



Among the Romans, the pecuniary punifhments were the 

 mulela and coiififcntlo. The corporal punifhments were capitii 

 diminutio, aqux et ignis interdiSio, profcriptio, deporlatio, rele- 

 gatio, furca, crux, career, cu/eus, equuleus,fca!s gemoniii, dam- 

 natio ad gladium, ad mdallum, Jlagellatio, talio, &c. which fee 

 delcribed under their refpeftive articles. 



Among us the principal civil punifhments are, faes, im- 

 prifonmenls, the Jiocks, pillory, turning in the hand, whipping, 

 ducking-Jlool, hanging, beheading, quartering, burning, tranf- 

 porlation, &c. 



Vol. XXIX. 



The eccleftajiical punifhments are, cenfarii, fufpenfwns, di' 

 pri'vations, degradations, excommunications, anathemas, penanuif 

 &c. The military punifhments are, being Jbot, running the 

 gantelope, riding the luooden horfe, the bilboes, &c. 



Among the Turks, &c. impaling, bajlinadoes on the foles 

 of the feet, &c. obtain. See Empalement, &c. 



The right of punifhing crimes againft the law of nature, 

 ^s murder and the hke, is in a ftate of mere nature vefled in 

 every individual. Accordingly the firit murderer, Cain, 

 was fo fenlible of this, that we perceive him (Gen. iv. 14.) 

 exprefiing his apprehenfions, that nnhoevcr would find him 

 would flay him. In a ftate of fociety, this right is tranf- 

 ferred from individuals to the fovereign power ; and thus 

 men are prevented from being judges in their own caufes, 

 which is one of the evils that civil government was intended 

 to remedy. The fword of juflice is now vefled by the con- 

 fent of the whole community in the magiftrate alone. Every 

 punifhment which does not arife from abfolute neceffity, 

 fays the great Montefquieu, is tyrannical ; and thif propo- 

 fition is rendered more general by Beccaria, who obferves, 

 that every aft of authority of one man over another, for 

 which there is not an abfolute neceffity, is tyrannical. 

 Upon this principle, the fovereign's right to punifb crimes 

 is founded ; that is, upon the neceffity of defending the 

 public hberty, entrufted to his care, from the ufurpation 

 of individuals ; and punifhments are jufl in proportion, as 

 the liberty, preferved by the fovereign, is facred and valua- 

 ble. It was necefTity that forced men to give up a part of 

 their liberty, and it is cwtain, that every individual would 

 chufe to put into the public ftock the fmalleft portion poffi- 

 ble ; as much only as was fufficient to engage others to de- 

 fend it. The aggregate of thefe, the fmalleft portions poffi- 

 ble, forms the right of punifhing : all that extends beyond 

 this is abufe, and not juflice. The laws only can determine 



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