Commentaries
on the
Laws of England.
Book the fourth.
Of Public Wrongs.
Chapter the first.
Of the Nature of Crimes; and their Punishment.
WE are now arrived at the fourth and laſt branch of theſe commentaries ; which treats of public wrongs, or crimes and miſdemeſnors. For we may remember that, in the beginning of the preceding volume[1], wrongs were divided into two ſorts or ſpecies ; the one private, and the other public. Private wrongs, which are frequently termed civil injuries, were the ſubject of that entire book : we are now therefore, laſtly, to proceed to the conſideration of public wrongs, or crimes and miſdemeſnors ; with the means of their prevention and puniſhment. In the purſuit of which ſubject I ſhall conſider, in the firſt place, the general nature of crimes and puniſhments ; ſecondly, the perſons capable of committing crimes ; thirdly, their ſeveral degrees of guilt,
- ↑ Book III. ch. 1
