Chapter III: The Influence of Beccaria in England

General debt of English law to Beccaria—English utilitarianism
due to Beccaria—His influence first traceable in
Blackstone—Fallacy of old criminal law in making the amount
of temptation the measure of punishment—Eden the first to
expose it in his ‘Principles of Penal Law’—Attitude of
men of letters to the criminal law, as of Goldsmith, Lord
Kames, and Fielding—First attempt at law reform by Sir W.
Meredith—Constant opposition of the House of Lords—Effect on
reform of Madan’s ‘Executive Justice’ and Paley’s chapter on
Crimes and Punishments—Relation of Paley to Lord Chief Justice
Ellenborough—Paley’s defence of English law—His approval
of the suggestion of throwing murderers into a den of wild
beasts—Howard’s ideas of reform and contribution to it—Bad
effect of the French Revolution in England—Romilly’s original
idea of reform—His Privately Stealing Bill—His criticism of
Paley—His Shoplifting Bill rejected by the Lords—The pillory
defended by Lord Ellenborough—Capital punishment for forgery by
Lord Tenterden—Rapid changes after the Reform Bill—The triumph
of Beccaria’s principles 46