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13 . —3 Geo . III . c . 16 . \ Personating Out-Pensioners of Greenwich Hospital . \ 4 . —22 Geo ., III . c . 40 . Maliciously cutting Serges . I \ * • •» 15 . —24 . Geo . IIL c . 47 . Harbouring OflFenders against thit ( Revenue ) Act * when returned from Transportation . r <
It does not seenr necessary to make any observations in this place on the punishments of transportation and imprisonment , which your Committee have proposed to substitute for that of death in the second of the two classes abovementioned . In their present imperfect state they are sufficient for such offences ; and in the more improved condition in which the Committee trust that all the
prisons in the kingdom will soon be placed , imprisonment may be hoped to be of such a nature as to answer every purpose of terror and reformation . 3 . In the more disputable questions , which relate to offences of more frequent occurrence and more extensive mischief , your Committee will limit their present practical conclusions to those cases , to which the evidence before them most
distinctly refers . They cannot entertain any doubt that the general principles which have been so strikingly verified and corroborated in some particular cases by that evidence , apply with equal force to many others , relating to which they have not had sufficient time to collect the testimony of witnesses . That some offences which the law treats as arson , and more
which it punishes as burglary , are not properly classed with these crimes , and ought not to be punished with death , would probably be rendered apparent by a legislative consolidation of the laws in being respecting arson and burglary . The same result , though in a less degree , might be expected from a similar operation in other important heads of criminal law .
On the three capital felonies of , privately stealing in a shop to the amount of five shillings , — of , privately stealing ' in a dwelling-house to the amount of forty shillings , —and of , privately stealing from vessels in a navigable river to the amount of forty shillings—the Houseof Commons have pronounced their opinion , by
passing bills for reducing the punishment to transportation or imprisonment . In proposing to revive those bills , your Committee feel a singular satisfaction that they are enabled to present to the House so considerable a' bo ^ y'of direct
evidence in support'of opinions , which had hitherto chieny rested 06 general reasoning , and were ofteti : alleged * Kf their opponents tp < « fee ' cttattidieted by ex ^ ietfce ^ ^ mfact&ble witn ^ si 5 e « hfeVe ^ borne testimony , for themselves and fdt- the clashes whom they represent * that a gre ^ at rejuctfincc prevails to pbsecut ^/ t ^^ v ^ evidence ; and to
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convict , in the cases of the three lastmentioned offences ; and that this reluctance has had the effect of producing Impunity to such a decree , that it may be considered as among the teriiptatioris to the commission of crimes . Your Committee beg leave to direct the attention of the House to the evidence of Sir Archibald Macdonald . on this and other
parts of the general subject , in which that venerable person has stated the re- > suit of many years' experience in the administration of criminal law . They for * bore to desire the opinion of > the present Judges , out of consideration to the station and duties of these respectable magistrates . It appeared unbecoming and inconvenient that those whose office it is
to execute the criminal law should be called on to- give an * opinion whether it ought to be altered . As the Judges could not with propriety censure what they might soon be obliged to enforce , they could scarcely be considered as at Hberty to deliver an unbiassed- opinion . Of the Judges who have retired from the bench , Sir William Grant and : Sir Vicary Gibbs , found it inconvenient to attend when *
they were requested ; and ' the Committee dispensed with their attendance , having reason to believe that both adhere to the opinions which they formerly maintained in Parliament on opposite sides of this question . Lord Erskine was absent from London when it was proposed to examine him ; but - the Committee are well
assured that his opinions entirely concur with their own . Sir James Mansfield ; and Sir Allan Chambre , appear to have formed no opinion , and the Committee ? at their request , dispensed with theic attendance . But highly as the Committee esteemr and respect the Judges , it is not from
them that the most accurate and satisfactory evidence of the effect of the penal law can reasonably be etftiected . ' Thejr only see the exterior of criminal proceedings after they are brought into # cOtirt of justice . Of'the cases 'which ttever appear there , and of the causes which prevent
their appearance , they cad know nothing . Of the motives which influence the testimony of witnesses , they cto foritt biit a hasty and inadequate estimate , i Evei * in the guilds'Of ^ v «^ be deceived ; From any oj » pmmAty observing the influence ; 6 f punishment upon tho ^ &a *^ mtaefector * are ^ ni ^ the rJnd ^ ai ^ l ^>^^^
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Register of Public Documents . 123
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1820, page 123, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2485/page/59/
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