The law of the Twelve Tables allowed people to kill a night-thief as well as a
day-thief,
[25]
if upon being pursued he attempted to make a defence; but
it required that the person who killed the thief should cry out and call
his fellow-citizens. This is indeed what those laws, which permit people
to do justice to themselves, ought always to require. It is the cry of
innocence which in the very moment of the action calls in witnesses and
appeals to judges. The people ought to take cognizance of the action,
and at the very instant of its being done; an instant when everything
speaks, even air, countenance, passions, silence; and when every word
either condemns or absolves. A law which may become so opposed to the
security and liberty of the citizens ought to be executed in their
presence.
[26]
