It has been shewn what rules ought to be observed in adjusting the proportion between punishment and offences. I. Variability . Acute corporeal punishments are extremely variable in respect of intensity, but not of duration.
Penal labour is variable in both respects, in nearly equal degrees.
A prison may be more or less severe. Banishment may be directed to a genial or ungenial clime. A second property, intimately connected with the former, may be stiled equability. Banishment is unequable. It may either prove a punishment or not, according to the temper, the age, the rank, or the fortune of the individuals.