CHAPTER III.

THE INFLUENCE OF BECCARIA IN ENGLAND.

General debt of English law to Beccaria—English utilitarianism due to Beccaria—His influence first traceable in Blackstone—Fallacy of old criminal law in making the amount of temptation the measure of punishment—Eden the first to expose it in his ‘Principles of Penal Law’—Attitude of men of letters to the criminal law, as of Goldsmith, Lord Kames, and Fielding—First attempt at law reform by Sir W. Meredith—Constant opposition of the House of Lords—Effect on reform of Madan’s ‘Executive Justice’ and Paley’s chapter on Crimes and Punishments—Relation of Paley to Lord Chief Justice Ellenborough—Paley’s defence of English law—His approval of the suggestion of throwing murderers into a den of wild beasts—Howard’s ideas of reform and contribution to it—Bad effect of the French Revolution in England—Romilly’s original idea of reform—His Privately Stealing Bill—His criticism of Paley—His Shoplifting Bill rejected by the Lords—The pillory defended by Lord Ellenborough—Capital punishment for forgery by Lord Tenterden—Rapid changes after the Reform Bill—The triumph of Beccaria’s principles 46