ing ſuch of the old penal laws as are either obſolete or abſurd ; and from too little care and attention in framing and paſſing new ones. The enacting of penalties, to which a whole nation ſhall be ſubject, ought not to be left as a matter of indifference to the paſſions or intereſts of a few, who upon temporary motives may prefer or ſupport ſuch a bill ; but be calmly and maturely conſidered by perſons, who know what proviſion the laws has already made to remedy the miſchief complained of, who can from experience foreſee the probable conſequences of thoſe which are now propoſed, and who will judge without paſſion or prejudice how adequate they are to the evil. It is never uſual in the houſe of peers even to read a private bill, which may affect the property of an individual, without firſt referring it to ſome of the learned judges, and hearing their report thereon[1]. And ſurely equal precaution is neceſſary, when laws are to be eſtabliſhed, which may affect the property, the liberty, and perhaps even the lives, of thouſands. Had ſuch a reference taken place, it is impoſſible that in the eighteenth century it could ever have been made a capital crime, to break down (however maliciouſly) the mound of a fiſhpond, whereby any fiſh ſhall eſcape ; or to cut down a cherry tree in an orchard[2]. Were even a committee appointed but once in an hundred years to reviſe the criminal law, it could not have continued to this hour a felony without benefit of clergy, to be ſeen for one month in the company of perſons who call themſelves, or are called, Egyptians[3].
It is true, that theſe outrageous penalties, being ſeldom or never inflicted, are hardly known to be law by the public : but that rather aggravates the miſchief, by laying a ſnare for the unwary. Yet they cannot but occur to the obſervation of any one, who hath undertaken the taſk of examining the great outlines of the Engliſh law, and tracing them up to their principles : and it is the duty of ſuch a one to hint them with
