ADMJ 103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Jeremy Bentham, James Fitzjames, Immanuel Kant
22 Dec 2020
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Ends that the legislator has in view: pleasures and the avoidance of pains. To a person considered by himself , the value of a pleasure or pain considered by itself will be greater or less according to four circumstances: intensity, duration, certainty or uncertainty, propinquity or remoteness. Punishment ought only to be admitted insofar as it promises to exclude some greater evil. Therefore, in the following cases, punishment ought not to be inflicted: Where it is groundless: where there is no mischief for it to prevent, the act not being mischievous on the whole. Where it must be inefficacious: where it cannot act so as to prevent the mischief. Where it is unprofitable or too expensive: where the mischief it would produce would be greater than what it prevented. Where it is needless: where the mischief may be prevented or cease of itself without punishment; that is, at a cheaper rate.
