PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

Of Crimes and Punisbmccts. 413
speeific proof. The statute which made the po&.Session
of the impiements of coining capital~ that is, which
constituted that possession complete evidence of the
offender)s guilt, was the first thing ~lla~ gave force
and efficacy to the denunciations of I~L upon this.
subject. The statute of JAM £s the Fir. i, relative to \
the mur~er of bastard ch~dren, whict· ordains that i
-" - J
the ~ con~e"lment of the birth should be deemed incon.,
testable proof of the charge, though a harsh law, wa(
in like manner with the fOl"lI\er, well calcu:ated t,I>
put a stOD to the crime. ..
It is uPon the principle of this observation, that!'
apprehend much harm to have been done to the I
community, by the overstrained scrupulousness, or j
weak timidity of juries, which demands often such!
'proof of a prisoner's guilt, as the nature and secrecf
of his crime scarce possibly admit of ;. and whi~
holds it the part of a safe conscience ~ot to conde~
any man, whilst there exists the minutest possibility
of his innocence.
Any story they may happen to
have heard or read, whether real or feigned, in which
courts of justice have been tnisled by presumptions
of guilt, is enough, in their minds, to found an ac­
~uittal UpOD, where positive pr~of i;-; wanting. I
ao not mean that juries should indulge conjectures,
should magnify suspicions into proofs, or even that
they should weigh probabilities in gold scalfs; but
when the preponderation of evidence is so manifest,
as to persuade every private understanding of the
prisoner's guit; when it furnishes that degree of
credibility, upon whicll nleo- decide and a~t in all
other doubts, and which exp~rience huth shown that
they may decide and act upon with sufficient safety:
to reject such proof, froIn an insinuation of nncer·
rainty that belongs to all human affair.s, and from a
~cneral dread lest the charge of iJl110ce11t blood sIlouJd
lie at their doors, is a conduct which, 110\VC\"cr natural
to ,} Illil1l1 studiollS to its 0\\111 qtliet, is allthorizeli
hy no consid"ration~ of rectitude or utility. It coun·
teract~ the carc, and damps the activity of governmE'llt:
it holds out public e:nconragement to villany,
by c(.'.nft>.:~~.il1g the il.npq~s~hiJiry cf hriJJgjng viilai,n~ to