Judges and legislators seem frequently to have had quite insanely distorted views about what is a proper proportion between the crime and the punishment. For unfair, harsh and even positively barbarous practices have often enough been enshrined in law. Our moral reformer might back up his case with a short reading list, which could include, e.g. What Nearly Happened to Galileo; What Actually Happened to the Gunpowder Conspirators; A Short History of the Navy; For the Term of His Natural Life (by Marcus Clarke, 1874); and Oscar Wilde�s two letters to the Daily Chronicle (1897). by free online poker

I am not one of those who think that the people are never in the wrong. They have been so, frequently and outrageously, both in other countries and in this. But I do say, that in all disputes between them and their rulers, the presumption is at least upon a par in favour of the people.