ABSTRACT
Once the evidence of the crime has been collected and its certainty assessed, it is necessary to allow the offender the time and reasonable opportunity to justify himself, but the time must be brief enough not to interfere with his prompt punishment, is one of the main principles of deterring crimes. A misguided love of humanity seems to oppose this limit in time, but any doubt about it will vanish when one reflects on the dangers to innocents that result from defects of legislation. The security of life is a natural right, the security of property is a social right. The motives that drive men beyond their natural sentiment of compassion are far fewer than the motives that, because of the natural desire to be happy, compel them to break a right which they do not find in their hearts, but in conventions of society.
