Encyclopaedia Americana: a popular dictionary of arts, sciences, literature, history, politics and biography, brought down to the present time : including a copious collection of original articles in American biography : on the basis of the seventh edition of the German Conversations-Lexicon (Volume 4).

Date:: 1830-33

Credit: Encyclopaedia Americana: a popular dictionary of arts, sciences, literature, history, politics and biography, brought down to the present time : including a copious collection of original articles in American biography : on the basis of the seventh edition of the German Conversations-Lexicon (Volume 4). Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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The number of thieves increases from the constant addition to the number of the ob- jects of temptation, from tlie greater luxu- ries with which every individual is sur- rounded, from the increased rapidity with which goods may be transported to distant parts of the country, and from the more easy communication with the continent Add all these causes, and many others, to a more vigilant administration of justice, which produces committals for the most trifling offences against property, and we shall easily understand how the return of committals may be increased, while the groat bulk of the people is becoming more intelligent and more prudent.—M. Lucas, an advocate in the royal court at Paris, has collected, with much accuracy, a body of facts relating to France, Great Britain, the cantons of Geneva and Vaud, and the U. States, all of which tend to confirm the principles we have endeavored to establish—that the higher crimes are lessened as men become more civilized and enlightened; and that, though offences against property may increase, crimes against the person are invariably dimin- ished. With regard to France, this fact has been clearly proved by the calculations of M. Charles Dupin. In the northern departments of that country, where the inhabitants are the best instructed, the higher crimes against the pei-son are rare; in the southern, where the people are very ignorant, the most frightful crimes are twice as numerous. But, again, it is re- markable, tliat, in the north—the richest and most enlightened portion of France— the crimes against property exceeded, in 1826 and 1827, those in the south by 917. Of those crimes, however, the south ex- hibits the greatest number of atrocious ex- amples, having 207 highway robberies, while the north had only 82. In the can- ton of Vaud, from 1803 to 1826, the total number of offences was 1914. Of these, there were only 52 of the highest crimes against the person. Of the offences against property, only 75 were of the gravest character of crime, such as burglary and highway robbeiy. In the canton of Ge- neva, fi-om 1815 to 1826, there were 212 criminal processes, of which 27 only were for crimes against the person. The num- ber of offences against property was 185, of which 145 were simple larcenies. In the state of Pennsylvania, from 1787 to 1825, the total number of convictions was 7397, of which 628 were for offences against the person. Of the remaining 6769 offences against property, 5338 were larcenies. In Spain, tlie catalogue of crimes against the person for one year amounts to 3436, amongst Avhich are tlw following:— Homicides, 1233 Infanticides, 13 Poisonings, 5 Anthropophagy, 1 Cutting and maiming, 1773.* We thus see that, in Spain, the greater quantity of crime is precisely of an opi)o- site character to that which exists in France, Great Britain, Switzerland and Pennsylvania. On the other hand, the crimes against property amount only to 2379. From these data, we may concluda that the greater proportion of offences amongst an ignorant people are those which proceed from the licentious and revengeful passions, unsubdued by tlie cultivation of the understanding, and the subjection of the will to true morality and pure religion. The greater portion of of- fences among a rich and highly-cultivated people, are of that sort which proceed from the temptations of property, the ac- cumulation of which is the result of capi- tal and intellectual energy. (For fiuther information, see Prison, and School.) Crimea. (See Taurida.) Criminal Law. [This article, to the paragraph on page 34, is from the German Lexicon.] In no department of legal sci- ence do so many different views prevail among jmisconsults, and in none have these views exercised so great an mfluence upon the theory and practice, as in thia The doctrine of the criminal law is, thai the individual committing an unlawful act, must not only make amends to the party injured, but also be punished by the su- preme authority of the state. The first question is, whether and how far the state is authorized to uiflict punishment. This question cannot be decided by positive rtiles of law, because the object of the inquiiy is to recontdle these rules with naturjd justice. States have, indeed, at all times, exercised the power of punishment, witliout waiting for or regarding such the- oretical investigations, because it is obvi- ous that, without the right of punisliing, no state could exist The different sys- tems, whici have attempted to establish theoretically tlie right of punishment, may be brought under the following heads:— I. The system of reng-eonce. From the * This comparative statement of offences in France, Switzerland, tlic U. Stales and Spain, rests upon the authority of an article in the SuUe- tin Universel, for September. The precise year taken for Spain is not mentioned.

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