The Laws of England however make no distinction between this crime and common Murder; while it is to be lamented that offences far less heinous, either morally or politically considered, are punished with the same degree of severity; and it is much to be feared, that this singular inequality is ill calculated to inspire that filial awe and reverence to parents, which all human Laws ought to inculcate.

The offences next in enormity to Treason, are by the Laws of England, denominated Felonies, and these may be considered as of two kinds, public and private.

Under the head of Public Felonies, we shall class the following: having peculiar relation to the State.

1. Felonies relative to the Coin of the Realm.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

to the King and his Counsellors, &c.

to Soldiers and Marines,

to embezzling Public Property.
to Riot and Sedition.

to Escape from Prison.

to Revenue and Trade, &c.

We consider as comprehended under Private Felonies the following crimes committed, 1. Against the Life, 2. The Body, 3. The Goods, 4. The Habitation of the Subject.

Those Crimes which we have denominated Public Felonies being merely of a political nature, it would seem that the ends of justice would he far better answered than at present, and convictions oftener obtained, by different degrees of Punishment short of Death.

With regard to Private Felonies, it may be necessary to make some specific observations→→→

The first, in point of enormity, is Murder, which may be committed in two ways:first, upon one's self, in which case the offender is denominated Felo de se, or a Self-murderer;-secondly, by killing another person.

The Athenian Law ordained, that persons guilty of Self-murder, should have the hand cut off which did the murder, and buried in a place separate from the body; but this seems af little consequence. — When such a calamity happens, it is a deplorable misfortune; and there seems to be a great cruelty in adding to the distress of the wife, children, of nearest kin, of the deceased, by the forfeiture of his whole property; which is at present confiscated by Law.

By the Law of England, the judgment in case of Murder is, that the person convicted shall suffer death and that his body shall be dissected.

The laws of most civilized nations, both ancient and modern, have justly punished this atrocious offence with death. It was so by the Laws of Athens, and also by the Jewish and Roman Laws.-By the Persian Law Murderers were pressed to death be

tween

tween two stones; and in China, persons guilty of this offence are beheaded, except where a person kills his adversary in a duel, in which case he is strangled.-Decapitation by the Laws of China, is considered the most dishonourable mode of execution.

In the ruder ages of the world, and before the manners of mankind were softened by the arts of peace and civilization, Murder was not a capital crime: Hence it is that the barbarous nations which over-ran the Western Empire, either expiated this crime by private revenge, or by a pecuniary composition. Our Saxon ancestors punished this high offence with a fine; and they too countenanced the exercise of that horrid principle of revenge, by which they added blood to blood.But in the progress of civilization and Society, the nature of this crime became better understood; private revenge was submitted to the power of the Law; and the good King Alfred first made Murder a capital offence in England.

In this case, as in that of Self-murder, the property of the murderer goes to the State; without any regard to the unhappy circumstances of the families either of the murdered or the guilty person, who may be completely ruined by this fatal accident. -A provision which seems not well to accord with either the justice or mildness of our Laws.

Man-slaughter is defined to be The killing another without malice, either express or implied: which may

be

be either, voluntarily, upon a sudden heat; or involuntarily, but in the commission of some unlawful Act. And the Punishment is, that the person convicted shall be burnt in the hand, and his goods forfeited.—And offenders are usually detained in prison for a time not exceeding one year, under the Statutes, regulating the Benefit of the Clergy.

Homicide by Misadventure is, when one is doing a lawful act, without intent to hurt another, and death ensues.-For this offence a pardon is allowed of course; but in strictness of Law the property of the person convicted is forfeited; the rigour of which, however, is obviated by a Writ of Restitution of his goods, to which the party is now, by long usage, entitled of right; only paying for suing out the same.

Homicide by necessity or in Self-defence, is another shade of Murder, upon which no punishment is inflicted and in this is included what the Law expresses by the word Chance-medley: which is properly applied to such killing as happens in self-defence upon a sudden rencounter. Yet, still by strictness of Law, the goods and chattels of the person charged and convicted are forfeited to the Crown; contrary, as it seems to many, to the principles of Reason and Justice.

It should be recollected that in all cases where the Homicide does not amount to Murder or Manslaughter, the Judges permit, nay even direct a verdict of acquittal.-But it appears more consonant with the sound principles of Justice, that the Law it

self

self should be precise, than that the property of a nian should, in cases of Misadventure, Chance-medley, and Self-defence, depend upon the construction of a Judge, or the lenity of a Jury: Some alteration there fore, in the existing Laws, seems called for in this particular.

Having thus briefly discussed what has occurred relative to the punishment of offences against life, we come next to make some observations on what we have denominated Private Felonies against the Body of the Subject.

By the Grecian, Roman, and Jewish Laws, the abominable crime of Sodomy was punished with death. -In France, under the Monarchy, the offenders suffered death by burning.

The Lombards were said to have brought this detestable vice into England, in the reign of Edward the Third. In ancient times the men were hanged, and the women drowned: At length by the Act 25th of Henry the Eighth, cap. 6. it was made Felony without Benefit of Clergy.

It has been doubted, however, whether the severity of the punishment of a crime so unnatural, as even to appear incredible, does not defeat the object of destroying it, by rendering it difficult to convict an offender.

The same objection has been made with respect to the crime of committing a Rape. A proper tenderness for life makes the Law require a strong evidence, and of course the proof is nice and difficult; whereas,