An Essay on Crimes and Punishments/Chapter XLIII
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ANOTHER method of preventing crimes is, to make the observance of the laws, and not their violation, the interest of the magistrate.
CHAPTER XLIII.
Of Magistrates.
The greater the number of those who constitute the tribunal, the less is the danger of corruption; because the attempt will be more difficult, and the power and temptation of each individual will be proportionably less. If the sovereign, by pomp and the austerity of edicts, and by refusing to hear the complaints of the oppressed, accustom his subjects to respect the magistrates more than the laws, the magistrates will gain indeed, but it will be at the expence of public and private security.