t said, as what is said; for the omissions
of this bill have all their positive meaning. I have thought it better
to drop, in silence, the laws we mean to discontinue, and let them be
swept away by the general negative words of this, than to detail them
in clauses of express repeal. By the side of the text I have written the
note? I made, as I went along, for the benefit of my own memory. They
may serve to draw your attention to questions, to which the expressions
or the omissions of the text may give rise. The extracts from the
Anglo-Saxon laws, the sources of the Common law, I wrote in their
original, for my own satisfaction;* but I have added Latin, or liberal
English translations. From the time of Canute to that of the Magna
Charta, you know, the text of our statutes is preserved to us in Latin
only, and some old French.

* In this publication, the original Saxon words are given,
but, owing to the want of Saxon letter, they are printed in
common type.

I have strictly observed the scale of punishments settled by the
Committee, without being entirely satisfied with it. The _Lex talionis_,
although a restitution of the Common law, to the simplicity of which we
have generally found it so advantageous to return, will be revolting to
the humanized feelings of modern times. An eye for an eye, and a hand
for a hand, will exhibit spectacles in execution, whose moral effect
would be questionable; and even the _membrum pro membro_ of Bracton, or
the punishment of the offending member, although long authorized by our
law, for the same offence in a slave, has, you know, been not long
since repealed, in conformity with public sentiment. This needs
reconsideration.

I have heard little of the proceedings of the Assembly, and do not
expect to be with you till about the close of the month. In the mean
time, present me respectfully to Mrs. Wythe, and accept assurances
of the affectionate esteem and respect of, Dear Sir, Your friend and
servant,

Th: Jefferson.

George Wythe, Esq.

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[Illustration: Bill For Proportioning Crimes and Punishments, page124]

[Illustration: Bill For Proportioning Crimes and Punishments, page125]

[Illustration: Bill For Proportioning Crimes and Punishments, page126]