ignorance, which may be referred to the ſecond ; and compulſion or neceſlity, which may properly rank in the third.
I. First, we will conſider the cafe of infancy, or nonage ; which is a defect of the underſtanding. Infants, under the age of diſcretion, ought not to be puniſhed by any criminal proſecution whatever[1] . What the age of diſcretion is, in various nations is matter of ſome variety. The civil law diſtinguiſhed the age of minors, or thoſe under twenty five years old, into three ſtages : infantia, from the birth till ſeven years of age ; pueritia, from ſeven to fourteen , and pubertas from fourteen upwards. The period of pueritia, or childhood, was again ſubdivided into two equal parts ; from ſeven to ten and an half was aetas infantiae proxima ; from ten and an half to fourteen was aetas pubertati proxima. During the firſt ſtage of infancy, and the next half ſtage of childhood, infantiae proxima, they were not puniſhable for any crime[2]. During the other half ſtage of childhood, approaching to puberty, from ten and an half to fourteen, they were indeed puniſhable, if found to be doli capaces, or capable of miſchief ; but with many mitigations, and not with the utmoſl rigor of the law. During the laſl ſtage (at the age of puberty, and afterwards) minors were liable to be puniſhed, as well capitally, as otherwiſe.
The law of England does in ſome cafes privilege an infant, under the age of twenty one, as to common miſdemefnors ; ſo as to eſcape fine, impriſonment, and the like : and particularly in cafes of omiſlion, as not repairing a bridge, or a highway, and other ſimilar offences[3] : for, not having the command of his fortune till twenty one, he wants the capacity to do thoſe things, which the law requires. But where there is any notorious breach of the peace, a riot, battery, or the like, (which infants, when full grown, are at leaſt as liable as others to
