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
Nothing could be more dangerous than following the popular maxim whereby it is the spirit of the law that must be consulted. This is an embankment that, once broken, gives way to a torrent of opinions.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote warns against relying solely on subjective interpretations of laws, as this can lead to chaos and varying opinions.
Cesare Beccaria emphasizes the potential dangers of prioritizing the spirit of the law over its letter. He argues that this approach could result in a breakdown of legal standards, allowing personal opinions to overshadow established legal principles and leading to disorder and inconsistency in justice.
Themes
LawJusticeOpinionChaosInterpretation
In practice
Example use cases
In a legal seminar discussing the interpretation of laws.
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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