1310. CLERGY, Benefit of.—
This privilege,
originally allowed to the clergy, is now
extended to every man, and even to women.
It is a right of exemption from capital punishment,
for the first offence, in most cases.
It is, then, a pardon by the law. In other
cases, the Executive gives the pardon. But
when laws are made as mild as they should be,
both these pardons are absurd. The principle
of Beccaria is sound. Let the legislators be
merciful, but the executors of the law inexorable.—
To M. de Meunier. Washington ed. ix, 263.
Ford ed., iv, 168.
(P.
1786)
