not to set foot
in the temples or come within the borders of the land; if discovered, he
shall die, and his body shall be cast out. A man is justified in taking
the life of a burglar, of a footpad, of a violator of women or youth;
and he may take the life of another with impunity in defence of father,
mother, brother, wife, or other relations.

The nurture and education which are necessary to the existence of men
have been considered, and the punishment of acts of violence which
destroy life. There remain maiming, wounding, and the like, which admit
of a similar division into voluntary and involuntary. About this class
of actions the preamble shall be: Whereas men would be like wild beasts
unless they obeyed the laws, the first duty of citizens is the care
of the public interests, which unite and preserve states, as private
interests distract them. A man may know what is for the public good, but
if he have absolute power, human nature will impel him to seek pleasure
instead of virtue, and so darkness will come over his soul and over the
state. If he had mind, he would have no need of law; for mind is the
perfection of law. But such a freeman, 'whom the truth makes free,' is
hardly to be found; and therefore law and order are necessary, which are
the second-best, and they regulate things as they exist in part
only, but cannot take in the whole. For actions have innumerable
characteristics, which must be partly determined by the law and partly
left to the judge. The judge must determine the fact; and to him also
the punishment must sometimes be left. What shall the law prescribe,
and what shall be left to the judge? A city is unfortunate in which the
tribunals are either secret and speechless, or, what is worse, noisy and
public, when the people, as if they were in a theatre, clap and hoot the
various speakers. Such courts a legislator would rather not have; but
if he is compelled to have them, he will speak distinctly, and leave as
little as possible to their discretion. But where the courts are good,
and presided over by well-trained judges, the penalties to be inflicted
may be in a great measure left to them; and as there are to be good
courts among our colonists, we need not determine beforehand the
exact proportion of the penalty and the crime. Returning, then, to
our legislator, let us indite a law about wounding, which shall run as
follows:--He who wounds with intent to kill, and fails in his object,
shall be tried