Some persons have maintained that a crime, that is, an action contrary to the laws, is punishable wherever committed, as if the character of subject[193] were indelible, or, in other words, synonymous with, nay9, worse than, the character of slave; as if a man could be the subject of one kingdom and the resident of another, or as if his actions could without contradiction be subordinate to two sovereign powers and to two legal systems often contradictory10. So some think that a cruel action done, say, at Constantinople is punishable at Paris, for the abstract reason that he who offends humanity deserves to have collective humanity for his enemy, and merits universal execration11; as if judges were the avengers of human sensibility in general, and not rather of the covenants13 that bind14 men together. The place of punishment is the place of the crime, because there, and there only, is it a compulsory15 duty to injure an individual, to prevent an injury to the public. A villain16, but one who has not broken the covenants of the society of which he was not a member, may be an object of fear, and for that reason be expelled and exiled by the superior power of that society; but he cannot be legally and formally punished, since it is for the laws to avenge12, not the intrinsic malice17 of particular actions, but the violation18 of compacts.
But whether the international extradition of criminals be useful I would not venture to decide, until laws more in conformity19 with the needs of humanity, until milder penalties, and until the emancipation20 of law from the caprice of mere21 opinion, shall have given[194] security to oppressed innocence22 and hated virtue23; until tyranny shall have been confined, by the force of universal reason which ever more and more unites the interests of kings and subjects, to the vast plains of Asia; however much the conviction of finding nowhere a span of earth where real crimes were pardoned might be the most efficacious way of preventing their occurrence.

点击
收听单词发音

1
asylum
![]() |
|
n.避难所,庇护所,避难 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2
asylums
![]() |
|
n.避难所( asylum的名词复数 );庇护;政治避难;精神病院 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3
extradition
![]() |
|
n.引渡(逃犯) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4
expedient
![]() |
|
adj.有用的,有利的;n.紧急的办法,权宜之计 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5
impunity
![]() |
|
n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6
inevitability
![]() |
|
n.必然性 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7
deter
![]() |
|
vt.阻止,使不敢,吓住 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8
multiplication
![]() |
|
n.增加,增多,倍增;增殖,繁殖;乘法 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9
nay
![]() |
|
adv.不;n.反对票,投反对票者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10
contradictory
![]() |
|
adj.反驳的,反对的,抗辩的;n.正反对,矛盾对立 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11
execration
![]() |
|
n.诅咒,念咒,憎恶 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12
avenge
![]() |
|
v.为...复仇,为...报仇 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13
covenants
![]() |
|
n.(有法律约束的)协议( covenant的名词复数 );盟约;公约;(向慈善事业、信托基金会等定期捐款的)契约书 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14
bind
![]() |
|
vt.捆,包扎;装订;约束;使凝固;vi.变硬 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15
compulsory
![]() |
|
n.强制的,必修的;规定的,义务的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16
villain
![]() |
|
n.反派演员,反面人物;恶棍;问题的起因 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17
malice
![]() |
|
n.恶意,怨恨,蓄意;[律]预谋 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18
violation
![]() |
|
n.违反(行为),违背(行为),侵犯 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19
conformity
![]() |
|
n.一致,遵从,顺从 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20
emancipation
![]() |
|
n.(从束缚、支配下)解放 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21
mere
![]() |
|
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22
innocence
![]() |
|
n.无罪;天真;无害 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23
virtue
![]() |
|
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
欢迎访问英文小说网 |