Law Reform and Social Happiness

Introduction

• Focuses on the ongoing tension within societies where some seek more power and happiness at the expense of others
• Good laws aim to counteract this, promoting equality, but people often trust those who might not uphold these laws

Reforming the Laws

• Often, laws originate from a few individuals' passions or temporary needs, not from careful consideration of human nature with the goal of maximizing overall happiness
• Nations that proactively establish sensible laws fare better than those that wait for immense suffering to prompt change
• Philosophers who promote helpful principles deserve significant recognition for the dissemination of these truths

Impact of Printing & Modern Shortfalls

• Printing has spread philosophical insights, revealing connections between rulers, subjects, and nations
• Commerce has spurred emulation and productivity, marking progress
• Cruel punishments and inconsistent criminal procedures persist across Europe despite enlightenment
• Centuries of accumulated errors remain unaddressed by fundamental reforms
• Acknowledged truths have not challenged the abusive power that facilitates inhumane acts
• The suffering of vulnerable people amid barbarity should compel thought leaders to act

Montesquieu & the author of “An Essay on Crimes and Punishments”

• Montesquieu addressed elements of this subject matter
• The author intended other scholars to distinguish the expansion on those prior ideas
• The author looks forward to acknowledgement and support from those involved in reason, philosophy and human rights

Chapter 1: Origin of Punishments

• Men, seeking peace and security, formed societies and sacrificed some freedom, establishing laws
• Individuals gave up a portion of liberty, creating national sovereignty held by administrators
• This deposit needed protection from individual encroachment via sensible motives
• Punishment is established against the law's infractors, an attempt to prevent individuals from chaos
• Experience shows people do not establish rules; society avoids dissolution through sensory-based motives
• These must counterbalance individual passions against the common good, as eloquence and truth are insufficient

Chapter 2: The Right to Punish

• Punishments lacking absolute necessity are tyrannical
• A sovereign can punish to defend public liberty from individual overreach
• Just punishments correspond to the sovereign's dedication to preserving liberty
• Consulting the human spirit reveals the legitimate basis for punishment
• Lasting moral policy requires foundation in human sentiment
• Laws diverging from this will face resistance and fail
• Individuals do not relinquish liberty solely for public benefit, because this notion exists only in fiction
• People naturally seek exemption from societal bonds
• Population increases required men to form new societies, leading to a state of war between groups
• Necessity led men to cede liberty, they chose the least amount needed for mutual defense
• The right to punish is the collection of the absolute minimum portions of individual liberty yielded
• Justice is understood as the bond uniting individual interests, essential to prevent societal collapse into barbarity
• Punishments exceeding the necessity of maintaining this bond are unjust
• Justice is viewed as an essential link for uniting person, not a physical entity
• The justice of God differs and concerns life's rewards/punishments after death

Chapter 3: Consequences of Foregoing Principles

• Laws should define crimes and penalties, and only legislators representing a united society can create penal laws
• Magistrates (as members of society) cannot justly impose punishments not legally defined
• Increasing a legally defined punishment is an addition, thus, magistrates should not alter punishments
• Individuals have obligations to society and vice versa, as conventions useful to the many must be observed
• Violating this agreement leads to anarchy
• Sovereigns can only enact general laws
• Judging individuals' social contract violation and assigning punishment isn't their role
• Sovereign and accused are opposing parties, so a judge or magistrate is needed to decide
• Their decision should be simple affirmation or negation with no appeal
• Needlessly severe punishments go against enlightened reason, in governing through happiness rather than slavery
• This contradicts justice and the social compact

Chapter 4: Interpretation of Laws

• Judges in criminal matters should not interpret penal laws; they are not lawmakers
• Laws aren't ancestral tradition or dictatorial will, judges recognize the law from society/sovereign
• Ancient or pretended founding obligation isn't justified for laws, such obligations are void, ages following laws have ability to judge/act
• Laws derive force from allegiance oaths, tacit or overt, sworn by living people to sovereigns, stopping internal conflict from personal interests
• Sovereign, not judge, is interpreter, because judges determine legal action
• Judges should apply syllogistic reasoning in cases
• The law should have priority, following action conformity with law, concluding liberty/punishment
• With flawed law, judges supplement other syllogisms, creating ambiguity
• The spirit of laws should not be considered because that gives way to opinion
• Vulgar, simple minds affected by disorder, not consequences adopted by nations
• Knowledge follows idea amount, complexity yields consideration variety
• People view things different ways: spirit of law relies on judge's logic varying with digestion, passions, connections which shift object appearance
• Delinquent's fate changes in courts, freedom succumbs to judges who wrongly see their mixed reasoning as justice
• Crimes are errantly punished due to inconsistent, arbitrary legal interpretations

Chapter 5: Obscurity of Laws

• Interpreting law is an evil, and obscurity serves as another, further if people don't understand the writing
• A few, interpreters, make laws private and specific by being private and specific
• Europe's established legal custom is thought provoking
• Criminal activity decreases with law understanding, because strong passions result from punishment ignorance
• Without proper writing, state power vests in individuals, not societies together
• Human history lessens from its origin
• Printing lets everyone become guardians, literature dissolves cabal and intrigue, as well as ancestors atrocities
• The last centuries show kindness with luxury, but ancient simplicity reveals cruelty including gospel minister bloodstained hands and oppression

Chapter 6: Proportion Between Crimes and Punishments

• Crimes shouldn't happen, and, if they do, shouldn't be that common according to the negativity they bring/cause society
• Legislation should use potent counteraction correlating to destructive effects publicly, and to the severity of inducement toward crimes
• There needs to be fixed correlations in crime/punishment
• It’s not that it’s impossible to always stop disruptions, but they increase with people amount/private interest disagreement
• History has proven the disturbances increase with domain expansion
• Math cannot be used for accuracy, and political arithmetic needs the probability calculation use
• Private interest has perpetual force, and punishment stops terrible interest effects instead of breaking a man’s natural cause of sensitivity, it requires a legislator to counter gravity
• Society needs connection/conventions and should scale crimes from highest public dissolution tendency to lowest private injustice
• Every action goes against the public, that are called criminal, decreasing from high to low
• Math on human actions would scale the other aspects
• A legislator makes prime division or disrupts the order for crimes, they get placed as if they have no degree
• Having all the things would scale and punish crimes, a universal measure of liberty, slavery, humanity and cruelty of nation
• No action is on the scale, then they are not to even mention crimes except if they have the interest in saying them
• Uncertainty to points on the scale creates morality that goes against the laws with best men going through punishment
• Vague Vice/virtue concepts make them not possible, and the same for those with political bodies

Chapter 7: Estimating the Degree of Crimes

• The degree of crimes can be measured by the injury to society
• Intention doesn't determine the scope; it depends on outside factors and people's state of mind, which varies
• This system requires laws for each person, but essential services sometimes come from the worst people
• If the person harmed is esteemed, that can't determine scope as well, or divine disrespect is worse than a king's assassination
• Sin doesn't determine scope in man-man relationship versus the God-man one
• Relationships are relations of equality Private passions and interests make human justice, an imperfect divine being who reserves the right to judge and create laws
• If disobeys get punishments, small crime can take himself for the Divine who can't feel things
• Only heart malice makes sin severe, which being impenetrable to finite being, cannot be a standard, making men punish what God forgives
• If such crimes are tolerated, that violates/harms the Supreme Being

Chapter 8:The Division of Crimes

• Estimate crimes through injuries
• Palpable facts have a combination of people to consider
• Opinions and authority use impressions when they need for the philosophy when in public
• Adherence examines crimes and the modes, but they change
• Its for general principles and who misunderstand freedoms so some reduce convent regularity
• Some crimes destory society and have a 3 part process
• Leze majesty gets punishment with clear idea and they all became victims
• Moral behavior will have limited activity which is philosophy in an attempt to make eternal truth
• The security becomes great which gets punishment Also its ok each citizen has to make a dogmatic society

Chapter 9: Honor Codes

• Honor respects law and people's point of view/opinion
• Term: The foundation, reasonings without fixing the definition
• Mind has more known bodies than interesting morality truths with passion/ignorance
• Objects have confusing morality that confuses the simple which becomes the phenomenon/human being
• Honor gets complex ideas plus a divisor, the word will always get the origin
• First makes magistrate and to prevent despotism
• This was the society and design codes Their understanding gets necessities with friendships
• The laws couldn't see which means could be satisfied by each individual
• Epocha Gets things with only means evils get fixed with opinion and there is virtue itself with everyone being above. It is necessary for their existence Its not from our group

Chapter 10: Duvelling

• From it, esteem combats and the laws anarchy get established
• Ancient people temple at their temple or suspicously friends
• They were at gladiator slaves and they got imitated
• Laws abolish custom, offenders get punished with death
• The honor person insults or loses the social creature. This gets enough to break death with the situation
• Frequency not in great cause they don't were swords but reputation is greater than the rank to jealousy
• Repeat things people said
• crime gets stopped and the person is innocent to protect

Chapter 11: Disturbing the Public Tranquility

• Tranquility are crimes to the streets like riots which commerce is for passage. discourses of fanatics which gains passions of curiosities and strong audience which enthusiasts have
• Streets at public is for expense and city. plain moral is for silence in church to religion which has authority and people interests and nation to parliaments makes misguided passions for people

The Police has a magistrate but should be code in the hand for tyranny and liberty

• I dont know criminal and its a general thing censorship can be necessary by constitiution
• Secret tyrant has suffered more than cruelty. What get for crimes? death or safe justice.
• Method is on manners the mist of something can't be eloquence or resist.
• If i dont it can country a degree for other have something to truth and save mankind one bad treat. It is just to have bad feelings contempt.

Chapter 12: The Intent of Punishments

• The considerations give punishments is not to destroy or torment a sensible thing that is already done;
• Tyrants cannot be authorized to do these inflictions of the furious, as they would be passionate and not cool, instead. Is groans of torture can go back or bring the actual moment.
• punishment prevent that others should have that offense such punishments must be impactful with no torture to the human body