ABSTRACT
Every punishment that does not derive from absolute necessity, says the great Montesquieu, is tyrannical. This proposition may be stated as a general principle: every act of coercion of one man against another that does not derive from absolute necessity is tyrannical. Such is the foundation of the sovereign's right to punish crimes: the necessity to defend the depositary of public welfare against the usurpation by individuals. In addition, the more just are the punishments, the more sacred and inviolable is the public trust, and the greater the liberty that the sovereign preserves for his subjects. The increase in human population, though slight, nevertheless was too much for the scarcity and harshness of nature to satisfy the needs of all. These individual needs inevitably become interrelated and for this reason the first savages banded together.
