The theory of legislation Author:Jeremy Bentham Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: We should never be able to subjugate, however imperfectly, the vast empire of evil, had we not learned the method of combating one evil by another. It has been n... more »ecessary to enlist auxiliaries among pains, to oppose other pains which attack us on every side. So, in the art of curing pains of another sort, poisons well applied have proved to be remedies. CHAPTER XI. Reasons for erecting certain Acts into Offences. We have made an analysis of evil. That analysis shows us that there are acts from which there results more of evil than of good. It is acts of this nature, or at least acts reputed to be such, that legislators have prohibited. A prohibited act is what we call an offence. To cause these prohibitions to be respected, it is necessary to establish punishments. But is it necessary to erect certain acts into offences ? or, in other words, is it necessary to subject them to legal punishments ? What a question! Is not all the world agreed on this matter ? Why seek to prove a truth universally acknowledged, and so firmly rooted in the minds of men ? Doubtless, all the world is agreed upon this matter. But on what is their agreement founded ? Ask his reasons of every man who assents, and you will see a strange diversity of sentiments and principles; and that not only among the people, but among philosophers. Will it be a waste of time to seek out some uniform basis of consent upon a subject so important ? The agreement which actually exists is only founded upon prejudices, which vary according to times and places, customs and opinions. I have always been told that such an action is a crime, and I think that it is so ; such is the guide of the people, and even of legislators. But, if usage has erected innocent actions into crimes; if it has made trifling offences...« less