21 May 1805

Evidence

Ch Preparatory Explanat

In a purely penal or a mixt suit the burthensomeness of the operations necessary to secure the forthcomingness and justiciability on the part of the defendant will be greater than in a purely non-penal suit. It is in the character of a general proposition the observation is true: but whatever truth belongs to it, does not belong to /attach upon/ it till after it has undergone large exceptions. In height the scale of burthensomeness extend much further in the case of a penal, than in the case of a non-penal suit. By the unfavourable event of a non-penal suit the defendant can not be subjected to any burthen beyond /greater than/ that of parting with a mass /portion/ of the matter of wealth;(a) by the unfavourable termination of a suit of the purely penal or mixt kind he may be subjected to a burthen of any conceivable weight, up to loss of life, accompanied with the utmost degree of bodily affliction that human[?] nature is capable of enduring, according to the nature of the list of punishments provided by the penal code of the state in which the suit happens to be instituted. In depth the scale of burthensomeness may extend and commonly does extend as far in the case of a purely penal or mixt as in the case of a purely non-penal suit. A fine to no greater amount than a shilling, a portion only of the value of a day's labour of an ordinary hand, is a punishment /the amount of a burthen/ not infrequently imposed under the name of punishment, in English judicature. (a) Sure[?] as to condition in life?