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1 Introductory Report to the System of Penal Law Prepared for the State of Louisiana 1820

handle is hein.beal/intrpsyla0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 















INTRODUCTORY REPORT


                            TO THE


   SYSTEM OF PENAL LAW


                       PREPARED FOR THE


           STATE OF LOUISIANA.





   I LAY before the General Assembly, with unaffected diffidence, the
 System which they directed me to prepare. This feeling, however,
 does not arise from any apprehension that the work has not been
 framed according to the spirit of the instructions that were given for
 its execution; they have been constantly before me. Nor have I
 entertained any doubt of the correctness of the principles on which
 those instructions were founded; on the contrary, every new view
 that unfolded itself, as I gave them the form of practical precept,
 convinced me of their wisdom and utility. But in strictly following
 good rules according to the best of my judgment, that judgment
 must frequently have erred. To  apply general principles to the
 numerous subdivisions of criminal jurisprudence, so that the same
 spirit might pervade its different branches of Sanction, Procedure,
 Evidence, and Discipline, presented a task which nothing but the
 highest presumption could hope to perform, without falling into many
 errors. Of my own  fallibility no one can be more sensible than I
 am, and no one could have taken greater precautions to correct it.
 Not a provision has been made, without the deepest reflection upon
 its consequences. Not a line has been written, that was not sent to
 every quarter of the Union, in search of amendment. Not a sug-
 gestion has been offered, that has not been adopted without pride of
 opinion, when it brought conviction to my mind; and the long list of
 corrections, atothe end of the printed copies, attest how slight my
 attachment has been to preconceived ideas, or to the language in
which they were expressed, when either my own reflection, or the
advice of others, convinced me that they might be amended. The
Codes, as they are now presented, have been produced by the exer-
cise of my best faculties, faithfully and laboriously employed, under
                              I

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