Beccaria

/ bɛkaˈria /

noun

BeccariaCesare Bonesana17381794MItalianLAW: legal theoristPOLITICS: political economistWRITING: author Cesare Bonesana (ˈtʃɛzare bɔnɛˈzɑːna), Marchese de. 1738–94, Italian legal theorist and political economist; author of the influential treatise Crimes and Punishments (1764), which attacked corruption, torture, and capital punishment

Beccaria's treatise upon crimes and punishments had appeared in 1764, and had excited the applause of Europe.

Beccaria, in the preface to his essay, speaks of la massima felicità divisa nel maggior numero.

Montesquieu and Beccaria had spoken in general terms of the desirable qualities of punishment.

They stand with Grotius, Thomasius, and Beccaria—the men who in modern times have done most to prevent unmerited sorrow.

Bentham himself attributes the authorship of the phrase to Beccaria or Priestley.

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