CRIMES PUNISHABLE BY FINE, &c. See Mis

DEMEANORS.

CONFINEMENT, CLOSE.

When a criminal is sentenced to close confinement in China, he is fastened, at full length, upon a sort of bedstead, a chump of wood serving for a pillow. His hands and feet are loaded with iron manacles and fetters; his neck is chained to a post, and fastened by two padlocks. Punishments of

China.

See IMPRISONMENTS.

CONFISCATION.

Should the person who is excluded for ever from society be deprived of his property? This question may be considered in different lights. The confiscation of effects, added to banishment, is a greater punishment than banishment alone; there ought then to be some cases, in which, according to the crime, either the whole fortune should be confiscated, or part only, or none at all. The whole should be forfeited, when the law which ordains banishment declares, at the same time, that all connections or relations between the society and the criminal are annihilated. In this case the citizen dies; the man only remains, and, with respect to a political body, the death of the citizen should have the same consequences with the death of the man. It seems to follow then, that, in this case, the effects of the criminal should devolve to his lawful heirs. But it is not on account of this refinement, we disapprove of confiscations. If some have insisted, that they were a restraint to vengeance, and the violence of particulars, they have not reflected,

that

that though punishments be productive of good, they are not, on that account, more just; to be just, they must be necessary. Even an useful injustice can never be allowed by a legislator, who means to guard against watchful tyranny, which, under the flattering pretext of momentary advantages, would establish permanent principles of destruction, and, to procure the ease of a few in a high station, would draw tears from thousands of the poor.

The law which ordains confiscations, sets a price on the head of the subject, with the guilty punishes the innocent, and, by reducing them to indigence and despair, tempts them to become criminal. Can there be a more melancholy spectacle than a whole family overwhelmed with infamy and misery, from the crime of their chief; a crime which, if it had been possible, they were restrained from preventing by that submission which the laws themselves have ordained? Beccaria.

It is a maxim received at the bar, that "he who forfeits his life forfeits his effects;" a maxim which prevails in those countries where custom serves in. stead of law. So that the children of one who puts an end to his own life are condemned to perish with hunger, equally with those of an assassin! Thus, in every case, a whole family is punished for the crime of an individual. Thus, when the father of a family is condemned to the gallies for life, by an arbitrary sentence, his wife and children are reduced to beg their bread.

That law which consists in depriving an orphan of support, and in giving to one man the possessions of another, was unknown in the times of the Roman republic. It was first introduced by, Sylla in his proscriptions, whose example one would scarce

have thought worthy imitation. Nor indeed was this law adopted by Cæsar, by Trajan, or by Antoninus, whose name is still pronounced with respect by all nations; and under Justinian confiscation took place only in case of high treason.

It seems that, in the times of feudal anarchy, princes and lords, not being very rich, sought to increase their revenue by the condemnation of their subjects. Their laws being arbitrary, and the Roman jurisprudence unknown, customs either cruel or ridiculous prevailed. But now that the power of princes is founded on immense and certain revenues, there can be no need to swell their treasuries with the inconsiderable wreck of an unfortunate family.

In countries where the Roman law is established, confiscation is not admitted, except within the jurisdiction of the parliament of Thoulouse. It was formerly the law at Calais, but was abolished by the English whilst that city was in their possession. It is strange, that the inhabitants of the capital should be subject to a severer law than the people in the country; but laws, like the cottages in a village, were generally established by accident, and without attention to the regularity of a general plan.

Who would believe that, in the year 1673, in the most brilliant period of the kingdom of France, the advocate-general, Omer Talon, did, in full parliament, express himself, on the subject of a young lady named Canillac, in the following words:

"God says, in the 13th chapter of Deuterono 86 my, If thou comest into a city where idolatry "reigneth, thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants "of that city with the edge of the sword, destroy"ing it utterly, and all that is therein. And

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"thou shalt gather all the spoil thereof into the "midst of the street, and shalt burn with fire the "city, and all the spoil thereof, for the Lord thy "God; and it shall be an heap for ever; ard there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand.

"In like manner, in the crime of high treason, "the children were deprived of their inheritance, "which became forfeited to the king. Naboth, "being prosecuted because he had spoken evil to "the king, king Ahab took possession of his "effects. David being informed that Mephibo sheth had rebelled, gave all his possesions to "Ziba, who brought him the news.'

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"

The question in dispute was, Who should inherit the paternal estate of Mademoiselle de Canillac, which, having been confiscated, was abandoned by the king to a lord of the treasury, and afterwards bequeathed by him to the testatrix ? In this cause, concerning a girl of Auvergne, it was, that an advocate-general referred to Ahab, king of a part of Palestine, who confiscated the vineyard of Naboth, after assassinating the owner with the sword of justice an action so abominable as to have passed into a proverb, intended to inspire mankind with detestation of such acts of tyranny. There was certainly no analogy between the vineyard of Naboth and the inheritance of Mademoiselle de Canillic, nor hath the murder and confiscation of the possessions of Mephibosheth, the grandson of Saul, and son of Jonathan, the friend and protector of David, the least affinity with the will of this lady.

It was with such pedantry, with such foolish quotations, foreign to the subject, with such ignorance of the first principles of human nature, with

such

such prejudices ill conceived and ill applied, that laws have been explained and executed, by men who acquired reputation in their sphere. Voltaire.

CONSPIRACY. See TREASON.

CONSTABLES.

Every thing that can heighten in any degree the respectability of the office of constable, adds to the security of the state, and the safety of the life and property of every individual.

Under such circumstances, it cannot be sufficiently regretted, that these useful constitutional officers, destined for the protection of the public, have been (with very few exceptions) so little regarded, so carelessly selected, and so ill supported and rewarded for the imminent risques which they run, and the services they perform, in the execution of their duty.

The common law, as well as the ancient statutes of the kingdom, having placed extensive powers in the hands of constables and peace officers; they are, in this point of view, to be considered as respectable and it is the interest of the community, that they shou'd support that rank and character in society, which corresponds with the authority with which they are invested.-If this were attended to, men of credit and discretion would not be so averse to fill such situations; and those pernicious prejudices, which have prevailed in vulgar life, and in some degree among the higher ranks in society, with regard to thief-takers, would no longer operate; for it is plain to demonstration, "that the best laws that ever were made can avail nothing, if the public mind is impressed with an idea, that it is a matter of imfamy, to become the casual

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