第92章 OF CRIMES,EXCUSES,AND EXTENUATIONS(6)

Also facts of hostility against the present state of the Commonwealth are greater crimes than the same acts done to private men:for the damage extends itself to all:such are the betraying of the strengths or revealing of the secrets of the Commonwealth to an enemy;also all attempts upon the representative of the Commonwealth,be it a monarch or an assembly;and all endeavours by word or deed to diminish the authority of the same,either in the present time or in succession:which crimes the Latins understand by crimina laesae majestatis,and consist in design,or act,contrary to a fundamental law.

Likewise those crimes which render judgements of no effect are greater crimes than injuries done to one or a few persons;as to receive money to give false judgement or testimony is a greater crime than otherwise to deceive a man of the like or a greater sum;because not only he has wrong,that falls by such judgements,but all judgements are rendered useless,and occasion ministered to force and private revenges.

Also robbery and depeculation of the public treasury or revenues is a greater crime than the robbing or defrauding of a private man,because to rob the public is to rob many at once;also the counterfeit usurpation of public ministry,the counterfeiting of public seals,or public coin,than counterfeiting of a private man's person or his seal,because the fraud thereof extendeth to the damage of many.

Of facts against the law done to private men,the greater crime is that where the damage,in the common opinion of men,is most sensible.

And therefore:

To kill against the law is a greater crime than any other injury,life preserved.

And to kill with torment,greater than simply to kill.

And mutilation of a limb,greater than the spoiling a man of his goods.

And the spoiling a man of his goods by terror of death or wounds,than by clandestine surreption.

And by clandestine surreption,than by consent fraudulently obtained.

And the violation of chastity by force,greater than by flattery.

And of a woman married,than of a woman not married.

For all these things are commonly so valued;though some men are more,and some less,sensible of the same offence.But the law regardeth not the particular,but the general inclination of mankind.

And therefore the offence men take from contumely,in words or gesture,when they produce no other harm than the present grief of him that is reproached,hath been neglected in the laws of the Greeks,Romans,and other both ancient and modern Commonwealths;supposing the true cause of such grief to consist,not in the contumely (which takes no hold upon men conscious of their own virtue),but in the pusillanimity of him that is offended by it.

Also a crime against a private man is much aggravated by the person,time,and place.For to kill one's parent is a greater crime than to kill another:for the parent ought to have the honour of a sovereign (though he have surrendered his power to the civil law),because he had it originally by nature.And to rob a poor man is a greater crime than to rob a rich man,because it is to the poor a more sensible damage.

And a crime committed in the time or place appointed for devotion is greater than if committed at another time or place:for it proceeds from a greater contempt of the law.

Many other cases of aggravation and extenuation might be added;but by these I have set down,it is obvious to every man to take the altitude of any other crime proposed.

Lastly,because in almost all crimes there is an injury done,not only to some private men,but also to the Commonwealth,the same crime,when the accusation is in the name of the Commonwealth,is called public crime;and when in the name of a private man,a private crime;and the pleas according thereupon called public,judicia publica,pleas of the crown;or private pleas.As in an accusation of murder,if the accuser be a private man,the plea is a private plea;if the accuser be the sovereign,the plea is a public plea.