ABSTRACT
Sir James Fitzjames Stephen (1829–1894) was called to the bar in 1854. He practiced on the midland circuit. was accused of unfairness in the murder trial of Israel Lipski in 1887. An unapologetic belief in vindictive retribution ran throughout both his written and judicial work. As it has been said of him, he was a Victorian at odds with his own time. Twelve commissioners were appointed in 1864 to inquire into the provisions and operation of the laws by which capital punishment might be inflicted, and into the manner in which capital sentences were carried out. The Committee was sitting when Stephen’s 1864 article in Fraser’s Magazine appeared. Stephen’s contribution to the death penalty debate came as no surprise to anyone. The threat of instant death is the one to which resort has always been made when there was an absolute necessity for producing some result.
