Book VI.
Chap. 20. & 21.tiff could not be satisfied in any other manner[1], secondly, after condemnations they might pay damages and interest[2], and then the corporal was changed into a pecuniary punishment[3].
CHAP. XX.
Of the Punishment of Fathers for the Crimes of their Children.
IN China fathers are punished for the crimes of their children. This was likewise the custom Peru[4]; a custom derived from the notion of despotic power.
Little does it signify to say that in China the father is punished for not having exerted that paternal authority which nature has established and the laws themselves have improved. This still supposes that there is no honor among the Chinese. Amongst us, parents whose children are condemned to punishment, and children[5] whose parents have undergone the like fate, are as severely punished by shame, as they would be in China by the loss of their lives.
CHAP. XXI.
Of the Clemency of the Prince.
CLEMENCY is the peculiar characteristic of monarchs. In republics whose principle is virtue, it is not so necessary. In despotic govern-
- ↑ Si membrum rupit, ni cum eo pacit, talio esto. Aulus Gelhus, lib. 20. cap. 1.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ See also the law of the Visigoths, Book 6. tit 4. § 3. & 5.
- ↑ See Gardlasso, history of the civil wars of the Spamards.
- ↑ Instead of punishing them, says Plato, they ought to be commended for not having followed their father's example. Book 9. of laws.
