CHAPTER XXIII. PROPORTION BETWEEN CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS.

 Not only is it the general interest that crimes should not be committed, but that they should be rare in proportion to the evils they cause to society. The more opposed therefore that crimes are to the public welfare, and the more numerous the incentives¹ to them, the stronger should be the repellent obstacles. This principle accordingly establishes the necessity of a certain proportion between crimes and punishments.

 

If pleasure and pain are the motors of sensitive beings, if the invisible lawgiver of humanity has decreed rewards and punishments as one of the motives³ to impel⁴ men to even their noblest endeavours, the inexact distribution of these motives will give rise to that contradiction, as little noticed as it is of common occurrence, namely, that the laws punish crimes which are entirely⁵ of their own creation. If an equal penalty is attached to two crimes of unequal injury to society, the greater crime of the two, if it promise a greater advantage than the other, will have no stronger motive² in restraint of its perpetration.[197] Whoever, for example, sees the same punishment of death decreed for the man who kills a pheasant and the man who slays⁶ his fellow or falsifies an important document, will draw no distinction between such crimes; and thus moral sentiments, the product only of many ages and of much bloodshed, the slowest and most difficult attainment⁷ of the human mind, dependent, it has been thought, on the aid of the most sublime⁸ motives and on a parade of the gravest formalities, will be destroyed and lost.

 

It is impossible to prevent all the disorders⁹ that may arise in the universal conflict of human passions. Their increase depends on that of population and on the crossings of private interests, which cannot be directed with geometrical exactness to the public welfare. In political arithmetic the calculation of probabilities must be substituted for mathematical exactness. Glance at the history of the world, and you will see disorders increase with the increase of the bounds of empire; thus national feeling being to the same extent diminished, the general inducement to crime increases with the greater interest of each individual in such disorders, and on this account the necessity for aggravating¹⁰ penalties ever continues to increase.

 

That force, similar to the force of gravitation, which constrains¹¹ us to seek our own well-being¹², only admits of counteraction¹³ in proportion to the obstacles[198] opposed to it. The effects of this force make up the confused series of human actions; if these clash together and impede¹⁵ one another, punishments, which I would call political obstacles, prevent bad effects from resulting, without destroying the impelling¹⁶ cause, which lies in the sensibility inseparable from humanity; and the legislator, in enacting¹⁷ them, acts the part of a clever architect, whose function it is to counteract¹⁴ the tendency of gravitation to cause a building to fall, and to bring to bear all the lines which contribute to its strength.

 

Given the necessity of the aggregation¹⁸ of mankind, and given the covenants¹⁹ which necessarily result from the very opposition²⁰ of private interests, a scale of offences may be traced, beginning with those which tend directly to the destruction of society, and ending with acts of the smallest possible injustice²¹ committed against individual members of it. Between these extremes are comprised all the actions opposed to the public welfare which are called crimes, and which by imperceptible degrees decrease in enormity from the highest to the lowest. If the infinite and obscure combinations of human actions admitted of mathematical treatment, there ought to be a corresponding scale of punishments, varying from the severest to the slightest penalty. If there were an exact and universal scale of crimes and punishments, we should have an approximate and general test by[199] which to gauge²² the degrees of tyranny and liberty in different governments, the relative state of the humanity or wickedness of different nations. But the wise legislator will rest satisfied with marking out the principal divisions in such a scale, so as not to invert²³ their order, nor to affix²⁴ to crimes of the first degree punishments due to those of the last.

1 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

2 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

3 motives   

n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• to impeach sb's motives 怀疑某人的动机
• His motives are unclear. 他的用意不明。

4 impel   

v.推动；激励，迫使

参考例句：

• Financial pressures impel the firm to cut back on spending.财政压力迫使公司减少开支。
• The progress in science and technical will powerfully impel the education's development.科学和技术的进步将有力地推动教育的发展。

5 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

6 slays   

杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• No other infection so quickly slays. 再没有别的疾病会造成如此迅速的死亡。
• That clown just slays me. 那小丑真叫我笑死了。

7 attainment   

n.达到，到达；［常pl.］成就，造诣

参考例句：

• We congratulated her upon her attainment to so great an age.我们祝贺她高寿。
• The attainment of the success is not easy.成功的取得并不容易。

8 sublime   

adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的

参考例句：

• We should take some time to enjoy the sublime beauty of nature.我们应该花些时间去欣赏大自然的壮丽景象。
• Olympic games play as an important arena to exhibit the sublime idea.奥运会，就是展示此崇高理念的重要舞台。

9 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 aggravating   

adj.恼人的，讨厌的

参考例句：

• How aggravating to be interrupted! 被打扰，多令人生气呀！
• Diesel exhaust is particularly aggravating to many susceptible individuals. 许多体质敏感的人尤其反感柴油废气。

11 constrains   

强迫( constrain的第三人称单数 )； 强使； 限制； 约束

参考例句：

• We'll ignore the continuity constrains. 我们往往忽略连续约束条件。
• It imposes constrains, restricting nature's freedom. 它具有限制自然界自由度的强制性。

12 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

13 counteraction   

反对的行动，抵抗，反动

参考例句：

• Thirdly, the metaphoric language means the counteraction of moralism. 第三，这种比喻性语言意味着对道德丰义的反拨。
• In center column of core, magnetic flux density is reduced by counteraction. 通过磁通在磁芯中柱的相互抵消作用，降低磁芯的磁通密度。

14 counteract   

vt.对…起反作用，对抗，抵消

参考例句：

• The doctor gave him some medicine to counteract the effect of the poison.医生给他些药解毒。
• Our work calls for mutual support.We shouldn't counteract each other's efforts.工作要互相支持，不要互相拆台。

15 impede   

v.妨碍，阻碍，阻止

参考例句：

• One shouldn't impede other's progress.一个人不应该妨碍他人进步。
• The muddy roads impede our journey.我们的旅游被泥泞的道路阻挠了。

16 impelling   

adj.迫使性的，强有力的v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Impelling-binding mechanism is the micro foundation of venture capital operation. 激励约束机制是创业投资运作的微观基础。 来自互联网
• Impelling supervision is necessary measure of administrative ethic construction. 强有力的监督是行政伦理建设的重要保证。 来自互联网

17 enacting   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Generally these statutes apply only to wastes from reactors outside the enacting state. 总之，这些法令只适宜用在对付那些来自外州的核废料。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• In addition, the complexion of enacting standards for live working is described. 另外，介绍了带电作业标准的制订情况。

18 aggregation   

n.聚合，组合；凝聚

参考例句：

• A high polymer is a very large aggregation of units.一个高聚物是许多单元的非常大的组合。
• Moreover,aggregation influences the outcome of chemical disinfection of viruses.此外，聚集作用还会影响化学消毒的效果。

19 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：

• Do I need to review the Deed of mutual Covenants (DMC)? 我是否需要覆核公共契约(DMC)吗？ 来自互联网
• Many listed and unlisted companies need to sell to address covenants. 许多上市公司和非上市公司需要出售手中资产，以满足借贷契约的要求。 来自互联网

20 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

21 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

22 gauge   

v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器

参考例句：

• Can you gauge what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gauge one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

23 invert   

vt.使反转，使颠倒，使转化

参考例句：

• She catch the insect by invert her cup over it.她把杯子倒扣在昆虫上，将它逮住了。
• Invert the cake onto a cooling rack.把蛋糕倒扣在冷却架上。

24 affix   

n.附件，附录 vt.附贴，盖(章)，签署

参考例句：

• Please affix your signature to the document. 请你在这个文件上签字。
• Complete the form and affix four tokens to its back. 填完该表，在背面贴上4张凭券。