If the same punishment is prescribed for two crimes that injure society in different degrees, then men will face no stronger deterrent from committing the greater crime if they find it in their advantage to do so.
Cesare BeccariaRead
If we open our history books, we shall see that the laws, for all that they are or should be contracts amongst free men, have rarely been anything but the tools of the passions of a few men or the offspring of a fleeting and haphazard necessity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Laws often reflect the interests of a few rather than the will of the many.
In this quote, Cesare Beccaria emphasizes the idea that laws, while ideally intended to be agreements among free individuals, are frequently manipulated by a select few. This reflects a historical pattern where legislation serves the passions and interests of the powerful rather than embodying a true representation of collective human reason or necessity.
Themes
LawsHistoryJusticePowerPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate discussing the role of laws in society, one could say: 'As Beccaria noted, laws often serve the interests of a few.'
More from Cesare Beccaria
All quotes →Easy, simple and great laws, which await nothing but a sign from the lawgiver to spread prosperity and vigour throughout the nation, laws which would earn him immortal hymns of gratitude down the generations, are those which are least considered or least wanted.
Cesare BeccariaRead
In order that punishment should not be an act of violence perpetrated by one or many upon a private citizen, it is essential that it should be public, speedy, necessary, the minimum possible in the given circumstances, proportionate to the crime, and determined by the law.
Cesare BeccariaRead
No man ever freely surrendered a portion of his own liberty for the sake of the public good; such a chimera appears only in fiction. If it were possible, we would each prefer that the pacts binding others did not bind us; every man sees himself as the centre of all the world's affairs.
Cesare BeccariaRead
I myself owe everything to French books. They developed in my soul the sentiments of humanity which had been stifled by eight years of fanatical and servile education.
Cesare BeccariaRead
The lawgiver ought to be gentle, lenient and humane. The lawgiver ought to be a skilled architect who raises his building on the foundation of self-love, and the interest of all ought to be the product of the interests of each.
Cesare BeccariaRead
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