Cesare Beccaria · 1764
On Crimes and Punishments
- Original title
- Dei delitti e delle pene
- Language
- Italian
- Form
- Treatise
- Text
- Full text
- English
- Period translation · English translation, 1775
- Source text
- it.wikisource.org
- Selected
- Ben Breen, 2026-09-29; suggested by Claude research agents, 29 Sep 2026
- Status
- Arguments unverified; quotations chosen by machine, unchecked
Q11JUDGMENT
Should a judge follow a general rule when it produces an unjust result in a particular case?Yes. the judge applies the rule. Holds that criminal judges must not interpret the law or consult its 'spirit', but apply it by a single syllogism, since interpretation opens the door to arbitrary judgment.
There is nothing more dangerous than the common axiom: the spirit of the laws is to be considered. To adopt it is to give way to the torrent of opinions. … The disorders, that may arise from a rigorous observance of the letter of penal laws, are not to be compared with those produced by the interpretation of them. The first are temporary inconveniences which will oblige the legislator to correct the letter of the law, the want of preciseness, and uncertainty of which has occasioned these disorders; and this will put a stop to the fatal liberty of explaining; the source of arbitrary and venal declamations. When the code of laws is once fixed, it should be observed in the literal sense, and nothing more is left to the judge, than to determine, whether an action be, or be not conformable to the written law.
OCR corrected
Chapter IV, 'Interpretazione delle leggi' · Chapter IV content confirmed in search results (lastraonline, Maiello); Gutenberg #58700 page opened and confirmed as Farrer translation.