SSamDav/icdar-htr-competition-2015 huggingface dataset:
70

THEFT.

but carrying it to A_ This we see would come

within the Letter of such an Expression: And

tho' it is probable that a Jury would hold themselves

entitled to refuse giving such a Decision, even if

this were the Clause adopted, as should subject a

Man under such Circumstances to Punishment

as for Theft,

yet that Letter it will be admitted is certainly

to be preferred, from which,in Pursuit of the Spirit,

there is least likelihood to be a Necessity of disparity.

no, depends upon the greater or less scrupulousness

of their Tempers: if they will not, a Man plainly

innocent is found guilty; if they will do, their

Decision will stand as an Evidence of the Imperfection

of a Law, thereby shewn to be of such a Nature as

that it was not fit to be punctually observed.

When once it is admitted that Violence may

be done on any Side or to any Degree to the plain

Import of a Phrase, little by little Opportunities

a

B

Whether in such a Case a Jury will depart or

must always

are taken of violating it of the opposite side or to
40

Theft Embezzlement and Fraudulent Obtainment

the basis of the highest fortune a servant can ordinarily

possess to himself a good place or succession of good places

Now this possession as everybody knows and as the servant

must he would be deprived by any act of delinquency of

any of the kinds now under consideration. Now the more

powerfully a man is acted upon in direction by other

powers with the less force is it necessary to act upon

him in the way of punishment

4: But the most forcible objection of all seems to be

that if an extraodinary punishment were appointed in

this case the greater it were the less likely it would

be to be put in execution from whence it would become

the less formidable and efficatious. At any rate a

master would be apt to feel more reluctance in con=

=tributing to the punishment of a servant than of a

stranger Between a master and his Domestic servants

there is a kind of relationship which bears some resem=

Government

=blance to those which are executed by masters The

of

be sensible

any

C
20

Devisees of such survivor as aforesaid and in default

of such devisee or devisees then by the Executor or Exe-

-cutors Administrator or Administrators of or person or

persons intitled to take out Administration to the

personal estate of such survivor as aforesaid untill

due satisfaction shall have been made to the estate of

such survivor as well as for the value of the said Buil-

-dings and other irremoveable improvements of every

kind made in or upon said land or any part thereof

as for the moveable stock remaining thereon and

occupied therewith And in default of such Feoffee so

appointed such seizin and possession as aforesaid shall

-sons intitled representation as aforesaid And all such

allowances as under the terms of the agreement were

made or to have been made to such Survivor for or on

account of the maintenance of the said establishment

shall during the same period continue to be made

unto the person or persons so seized and possessed as

aforesaid: the value of such buildings improvements

and stock to be settled by two referees one to be appointed

of the Treasury for the time being, the other by the per-

-son or persons so seized and possessed or intitled so to be

as aforesaid and with power to appoint an umpire.

remain and continue in such legal representatives or per-

to take out administration

by the Lord High Treasurer or Lords Commissioners

or their successors
61

two acts are there. Two Acts both of them to provide

for one gentleman, a gentleman already provided for

in a situation always besigged besieged by candidates:

an Act to increase his recompense, the other to

reduce his service.

But, Sir, what ground for all this? Is there

to be no end of all this malice _ of all these impu-

-tations _ these uncandid these envenomed insinuations?

My Lord, my answer is as distinct as possible.

Four features _ four antecedent features _ betray, even of

themselves the complexion of the business.

First the existence of such an abuse _ and for

such a length of time _ year after year _ under the

very noses _ (the term is a coarse one _ under the

eyes I should have said, had gentlemen chosen to

have eyes _) of such a pyramid of official personages

as those whose duty it was to prevent it.

Secondly, the neglect _ a neglect too indecorous

to have been manifested without cogent reasons _ the

compleat neglect shown to the only persons by whom

the smallest wish to see it remedied had ever been

manifested.

Thirdly, the total absence of all signs of dis-

-pleasure _ as well rewards the persons by whose im-

-mediate misconduct the mischief had been brought

about, as towards the perpetually silent and mo-

-tionless official spectators, by whose connivance it

had been fostered: _ or the contrary _

Fourthly, the positive tokens of satisfaction given,

by resorting to these very patrons & protectors of the

abuse
56

to Mr Neild? The negative is but too nor notorious.

If in one of the two instances situation in life was

such as to exclude hope of acceptance, that could b

not be the case in the other.

Thirty years ago the indefatigable & gratuitous

Agent of the Charity for the relief of debtors, travelled

the first of circuits three years before even Howard

had begun his. I called Neild a second Howard:

with more propriety I called Howard a second Neild.

Howard sunk under a jail fever, Neild has survived

one. The exertrions of Howard have long since received

their quietus from above: Neilds seem but to in-

-crease with age. Two such circuits in one year

adorn the annals of 1802. This Honourable Colleague

_ a Member of the legislature and not an idle one _

a man standing already in full light _ would derive

nothing like illustration from a hand like mine.

In a station like Your Lordships there have

been men that would have knelt to both these

gentlemen rather than not have gained one of them

for the office. In the instance of Mr Neild at

any rate, whether he would or would not have

accepted of the office would not be known, to a

certainty at least, without asking: accordingly he

was not asked. The experiment would have been

too dangerous: it was a case not to be trifled with.

Seeing how he had been occupying himself, and what

he lived for, would any prudent man have an

swered for his non-acceptance? Yeer Year after

year his active beneficence had embraced and covered

the
3

C

Of Idleness.

be by the establishing of some pubic works, in which

chooses,

any one who chooses it may, for as long as he lives

be permitted to take a part. The general nature of

such works will be considered in another place.

See Ch. Of Preventive Institutions.

Till an establishment of the sort is provid=

:ed, and spread all over the dominions of the state, what=

:ever idleness and whatever indigence there may be, is

the fault not of the subject but of the Legislator. When

it is provided, if it be only for want of being able

to get work that a man continues without employment,

he will be glad to go there, and get it: if it be from

an aversion to working, it is very fit that he should

fittest manner in which he can be made to suffer

there needs no more than to compel him to take

the benefit of such an institution; compulsion for

the future will answer every purpose of punish=

:ment for the past.

The expence of such establishments is an

inconvenience

leads

be made to go there. Such aversion being a disposition that

<gap/> him as we have seen, into all sorts of offences, it is very

suffer for it. Now to make him suffer for it in the
13.

C

Offences against the external Security of the State.

Now let us consider the case where the party in:

:jured is a privileged member of a state in amity. For

the sake of the intercourse carried on between one state

and another when at amity it has been the custom to

invest those by whose means it is carried on, with par=

:ticular distinctions. Such persons are known by diffe=

:rent names according to their different ranks: but they

are also known all together by the common appellation

of Foreign Ministers. Were a person permitted to do an

injury to these great officers at no higher a price than

it would cost him to do the like injury to an ordinary

person, it is evident enough that on various occasions

the interests of both states might suffer in a very high

degree by the interruption which such outrages might

occasion in the management of their concerns. Even

in cases where no material interruption might ensue

to such concerns, the pride as well of sovereigns whose

persons these Officers are understood in a manner to

represent, as of the Officers themselves is apt to be suf=

:ficiently sensible to the outrage; and it is the resent=

:ment which is thence apt to be entertained that con=

stitutes
"After the end of divine service our good People may

"recreation such as dauncing either men or women,

"archery for men, leaping vaulting or any other

"such harmless recreation nor from having of May

"Games Whitsun Ales & Morris dauncing & the setting

"of May Poles & other Sports therewith used so as the

"same be had in due & convenient time without

"impediment or neglect of divine service pp 10,11.

pp 17 in the whole to page 14 by James - "24 May 10th

year of our Reign in England & of Scotland the 50th

command to all the Judges to prevent molestation

& to be published by the Bishops.

London imprinted by Robt Barker Xth Assignees of

John Bell.

The King's Majesty's Declaration to his subjects concerning lawful

sports to be used.

"not be disturbed letted or discouraged from any lawful
Lordship adorns at present. It is in answer to

a letter from to his Grace to the Treasury dated

the 27th of the preceding month "desiring to be

"apprized of the number of Convicts which the

"Panopticon . . . . is intended to accommodate": and

is the letter that constituted or at least helped

to constitute the ground of the just-quoted

Treasury letter, written 5 months and 8 days

after the letter it was thus grounded upon,

and some time (but I do not exactly know

how long) after the determination had been taken

by mMost Noble and Right Honourable persons,

that no such building as it thus called upon

me to make pr preparations for, should be

erected. _

After stating, in regard to the object of the

Act in question (the Act of 1794 for the erection

of the Panopticon Penitentiary House requiring as

well as "authorizing" such House or Houses to be

erected) that he "understands the object of it" and

that that object is _ as to "transportable convicts"

"that such Penitentiary Houses should be used. . . .

"as receptacles for such transportable convicts as

"the several Goals of the respective Counties can

"not contain" [and therefore for none that they

can contain] "from the time of their receiving

"sentence till an opportunity may offer for their

"being

from

23

Letter 3d
they mistook an exception to a general rule, for the

general rule itself: & then thought themselves justi

-fied in dispossessing the infidels of Lands in which

they were in rightful possession Upon the same

principle this author in another place: that on the

conquest of an infidel country, the conquered have

less rights than other conquer in the same predicament.

nations

of

Note

The intelligent reader will easily perceive & the candid

reader misinterpret my meaning. _ I am not examining

the validity nor the fitness of the laws of Revelation. I am

only exposing the abuses of it men who misapply

them, & give them an extension beyond what their

Author intended and the examples above cited

will prove that these abuses have been productive

of the greatest mischiefs, & would be so again, if

Men of the Authors turn of mind hold the reins of government

in a conquering state

cannot mistake nor
Of Polygamy.

her be twice as great as he would be compelled to make were

she a Widow.

5. The Woman shall be presumed to be a Virgin, unless he

can make it appear that she was a Widow or had been de=

:flowered or was of evil fame for Chastity.

6. When any Man is convicted of Polygamy, before any defi=

:nitive provision is made for the Woman on whose behalf he

is prossecuted, public notice shall be given for any other woman

whom he may have injured in like manner to come in and

prove their Marriages: and all such as appear to have been

so injured by him shall have an equal claim, in proportion

to their circumstances, to such provision as he can make

for them: but in the mean time a temporary provision

shall be made for the woman in question. And if there ap=

:pear probable reason to believe that farther time is necessa=

:ry in order to discover more such women or for any such

woman who has put in her claim to collect her proofs, such no=

:tice may be from time to time enlarged.

final

When the time mentioned in the Notice is expired a

C

3.
Art. II. VII. Appeal warranting function. A certain

class of penal cases there is, in relation to which by

reason of the concurrence of certain circumstances, it

may happen that in the eyes of the Legislature the

certain evil composed of delay, vexation and expence

to parties injured, might perhaps be not improperly

regarded as outweighing the possible chance of effec

tive mis-decision to the prejudice of the defendant

on the part of the Immediate Judicatory, in which

case it may perhaps be deemed fit by the Le-

-gislature, in the framing of the Penal Code, to

lay down as the general rule, that in these easy

Appeal shall not have place. Offences of indigent

depredation, or say of predatory indigence, is the

appellation which may serve for a general indication

of the class of offences here in view. As to the enu-

meration of these offences, See Procedure Code tit.

Quasi Trial

Art. 12. Among two circumstances, by the consider-

-ation of which, this opinion may on the part of the

Legislature be perhaps produced are the following

1

(4

9
6

were I even used to search, could I expect to find

any Lawyer to consult of equal, not to say superior,

Reputation? My Neighbour's Interest for my Money

is as good as any body's else, why should not I

let him have it? All this while this Fortune

to which I trusted had been every penny of it settled

upon the Wife to her separate Use for her Life,

with power to dispose of it by will _ she has exe-

ecuted that Power in Favor of John Miles: my

Neighbour the Widower who was not worth a Groat

makes himself very merry with my £200 and

I hear no more of him. Much Consolation

does it give me when my Money's gone to be

told, that the Instruction is right tho' I am

ruined by the following of it: and tho' what is

there said is in Effect false, yet with a mental

Reservation it is also true. I then begin to ask

whether all the Truths in these Lectures are of that

Sort? and if some are, how am I to know whether

any other which I may pitch upon is not of the

Number? how am I to distinguish those which

ruin me if I believe them, for those which I

may

disposed
"law from the natural, and revealed:

"the former of which is the rule of moral

"conduct, and the latter, not only the

"rule of moral conduct, but also, the _

"rule of faith." [Here our Author has con-

founded things which are really dif-

ferent, and has distinguished things

made distinctions where there is no

difference.

[He has confounded the doctrines, with

the precepts of the revealed law: whereas

they are different, both in their nature, and

in their end: the precepts only are the rule

of

83

To be copied
or if a farther trial be thought necessary either of course

or upon appeal of the party, the Judge, the party accused

and the accuser should each put his seal upon the goods

that they may be forthcoming in Statu-quo at the time of the

trial.

If however they are of too perishable a nature to be

kept to the time of trial, the Judge should be bound to

call in any number of persons who might chance to

be passing by to see the condition of the goods and serve

as witnesses. For in a question so open to difference of

opinion as the condition and quality of goods, a question

of which the limits are so uncertain more witnesses

are needed than in a question respecting the happening

or not happening of any event.

Of Simple Mercantile FDefrauds.ment.

P.

C

<gap/>
C

is the pain of sympathy. This then is aleady an evil.

If it be without their consent, it assumes necessarily the

shape of some one or other of the offences against the pro:

:perty of individuals; it changes its nature and becomes

an offence against individuals.

Idleness then, when the result of choice and ac:

:companied by indigence, is obviously a proper object

of coercion. But is it the result of choice? This

is a fact which it is highly necessary should be as:

:certained before the coercion is applied. All other

species of delinquency have this in common that the

depends

avoiding them altogether depends upon the deliquent.

This is not the case with idleness: since for a man to

have employment, two parties must concur: himself

to accept it, and somebody else to give it him. It is

plain therefore that the Legislator before he can, with

any degree of Justice, punish idleness, or before he can

even be entitled to lament it as a misforturne, ought so to

order matters that whosoever stands in need of employ

:ment may be sure to meet with it. This can only

be

Of Idleness.

2
2

Servants Law

gentleman to a servant does not dishonour the servant.

but a blow from a servant to a gentleman dishonours the

gentleman.

C
which some would <gap/> is - that there ought to be no

Minister in England: my inference is that there ought

to be a Minister in Norfolk Island. In Norfolk Island

- yes and in New South Wales as many Ministers

as congregations. No Minister, no congregation:

the wisdom, if good in any one place, will be act

less good in many others. And if Ministers why

not Bishops? I mean in process of time: though

for New South Wales as for Man and British

I suppose might

America, for some time one envy same. Suppose

for example our Lord the late Bishop of Rochester

lately translated to <gap/> <gap/> was to be translated

still higher to Paramatta? The more arduous the

task the greater the glory: he might then promote

in peace and quietness that reformation which with a

zeal or <gap/> be opposed here after a preliminary to

be opposed here in England.

be eager to

consent
2

The design was _ that Convicts once sent there should

never come back again. The plan, if there had been any

such thing, about the return of Convicts, would have been

dictated either by what I call justice (in which case it would

have run counter to the design) or by the supposed profitable

injustice. On the former supposition, arrangements would have been

taken in the first place, for preventing the emigration of each

Convict before the expiration of his legal terms of punishment_

in the next place, for affording him the means of quitting the

Country immediately after _ if such should be his choice: _ ar-

-rangements, if not of the positive cast, at any rate of the negative

viz: by removing from that time forwards whatever

obstacle might till then have been opposed as such to his escape.

Whatever had been the term of punishment fixed by each man's

sentence _ fourteen years _ between fourteen years and seven years _

seven years or any shorter term _ care would have been taken at

any rate, that from and after the expiration of it, his return

should not be opposed by any positive and_factitious obstacle, the

the effect of which would be to render it more difficult from this

new spot than it used to be from the old spots, to which this

new discovered one was now substituted. _

Not to oppose, or suffer to be opposed, any obstruction to the

return of a de jure emancipated Convict _ to take measures for

rendering it neither more nor less easy than under the old

system, or, if that could not be done, still easier _ one or other of

those distinguishable lines of conduct would (in my humble

conception) have been the line of justice: which of them (since

no one of them was pursued) is scarce worth arguing about.

There remains the line of supposed profitable injustice _

of
34

THEFT

Irrational as by driving off by Shouts a Horse

laden with such a Bag, or by making a Dog to

take it up & follow him #

Aphorism 2d

Taking (as to the Manner) may be

by altering the State in which the Subject + is, whether

of Motion or Rest.

Of Motion _ as by cutting

down a Bag of Money from a Carriage passing by.

Of Rest _ as by drawing away

the Bag, the Carriage standing still.

Aphorism 3d

But in either Case, the Thing in

Question, to have been taken, must have been so

dealt with, as that after the taking, no part of it

shall continue to touch any Part of any Thing which

it touched before||

Aphorism 4th

To this purpose a Heap of Things is

to

of
68

THEFT

in the Intention of returning it: True it is indeed

that in this Case he might be said to make

it his own by adding "for a Time"; but certainly

If the Expression instead of "making it

his own" which I have adopted, or of "converting it to

his own use" which for the above Reason I have

that

rejected were to see of the not returning it" an

Expression which a scrutinizing Reader (and such

I wish for)might be apt to object to me as

answering the purpose better than either, because

adopted to fix the sense of one of them, an Inconvenience

might ensue of which the following Supposition

may serve for an Example

A. agrees with B. to buy

B's Plow: he is to take it away in six Days, and

pay for it in a Month_ C knowing of this

Agreement takes the Plow from B's House

without leave on the 5th Day, in the Intention

which

( we will suppose sufficiently evinced by his Conduct

at the Time or after) of keeping it two Days or

three Days and then not returning it back to

B.

not simply and without Addition.

that of
"to Obey."

NOTE

sense of word in a definition, what one expects is that he should

abide by it: that it should be always his sense at least whosoever

else it be: that in that sense he should always use the word, &

and in that only. If after pretending thus to fix it he lets it _

slip from him, and another slide into its place; how is it that his

readers are to understand him? about as well as Dr. Brown's

facetious story teller was understood who had a Wind mill

that used to lays its eggs and hatch its young ones. This

producing asort of a stare _ "Ah" says he, "but you are to

know when I say a Windmill, I mean a goose." I fear ma-

ny of our Author's Windmills will prove geese.

"Law" our Author begins with telling us, "in it's most general and

"comprehensive venue, signifies a rule of action; and is applied

"indiscriminately to all kinds of action, whether animate or

"inanimate, rational or irrational. Thus we say the Laws of-

"motion, of gravitation, of optics, of mechanics, as well as the Laws

"of nature and of nations. And it is that rule of action, which

"is prescribed by some superior, and which the inferior is bound

This is what our Author says, of the word Law: and this or so _

much at least as is printed in Italics, is what is intended, I suppose

for a definition of it. When a man is at the pains of giving us the

SECT. 1. Law in General (1

Sect. I. Law in General. (1