Excerpt from A Commentary on the New Code of Canon Law, Vol. 8: Book V; Penal Code (Can. 2195-2414) With Complete Index Brutal laws brutalize a people, is a well known dictum of Montesquieu. If this is true of all laws, it is even more so of penal laws. For penalty means pain or suffering, and if this is out of proportion with the crime, it becomes an incentive to rebellion against law, and finally, against authority itself. Moderation in the-penal code, therefore, should be the keynote of wise legislation,1. We say this, not as if we had expected that the Code of Canon Law would fail in mod cration, but for the reasons which follow. Modern crim inology IS too moderate; it even eliminates the very notion of penalty. This IS due to an inevitable reaction. Legis lators had not always followed Wise moderation or suffi ciently considered the physical and psychological con dition of the delinquent. With regard to this point, and more especially the treatment of youthful delim quents, the modern theories of criminology deserve some consideration. On, the other hand these the ories cannot claim universal, either scientific or dog matic, acceptance. For they are based on mere as sumptions and neglect sound philosophical principles. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.