ABSTRACT
William Paley (1743–1805) was an Anglican theologian and utilitarian philosopher. He was not deemed to be a thinker of originality, rather a lucid synthesizer. He was a conservative sceptic of innovation but displayed an interest in prison reform, and he supported the movement for the abolition of the slave trade. English law sweeps into the net every crime which, under any possible circumstances, may merit the punishment of death: but when the execution of this sentence comes to be deliberated upon, a small proportion of each class are singled out, the general character, or the peculiar aggravations, of whose crimes, render them fit examples of public justice. The crime must be prevented by some means or other; and consequently, whatever means appear necessary to this end, whether they be proportionable to the guilt of the criminal or not, are adopted rightly, because they are adopted upon the principle which alone justifies the infliction of punishment at all.
