ABSTRACT

In the eighteenth century, after the abusive use the ancien regime made of pecuniary sanctions, including fines and confiscation, they were subjected to severe criticism by some intellectuals and philosophers we could include in a general category called Enlightenment. The late refinements in historical accounts of the Enlightenment show us that we have not just one Enlightenment but many, produced by many national cultures. The argument that follows is intended to present some of the disparate threads through the works of two authors most commonly associated with the Enlightenment and the distinctive culture of capitalism, Cesare Bonesana Marquis of Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham. The influence exerted by the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham on the subsequent literature, as well as on the codification processes carried out from the start of the nineteenth century in Europe and America, is undeniable.