they considered criminal by the general public, but have been
deemed such by the law, in obedience to some dominating opinion or
prejudice. Bad language, seditious writings, atheism, drunkenness,
evasion of customs, and any violation of petty by-laws come under this
head. Instances of such offences are too well known to need citation.
They may best be summed up in the words of an American judge, who
pointed out how easy it would be to sentence the most honest citizen of
the Republic to imprisonment for a hundred years and fines exceeding a
thousand dollars for breaking a number of petty local regulations
against spitting, drinking, disrobing near a window, swearing, opening
places of amusement on Sunday, or employing persons on certain days or
under certain conditions prohibited by the law, etc.

Although persons who commit these acts are often in no wise
distinguishable from ordinary individuals, both criminals and
criminaloids are more often guilty of such offences than are normal
persons, who instinctively avoid coming into conflict with the law.

The difficulty of judging these misdeeds lies in the necessity for
careful weighing of the motive which gives rise to them, whether, that
is, they have been unwittingly committed by an honest individual, or
whether they are but an item in the long list of offences perpetrated by
a criminal. This differential diagnosis should be based principally on
the antecedents of the offender.

To this group belong also the authors of more serious infractions of the
law that are not generally considered such at the time, or in the
district in which they take place. Misdeeds of this nature are: thefts
of fuel in rural districts, poaching, the petty dishonesty current in
commerce and in certain professions, and in countries where secret
societies like the _camorra_ at Naples and the _mafia_ in Sicily, exist,
a connection with such organisations, which to a certain extent is
necessary in self-defence. Such, too, are theft and homicide during
revolutions, insurrections, wars, and the conquest and exploitation of
new territories and mines.

Rochefort and Whitman have pointed out that during the gold-fever in
Australia and California there was an enormous increase in crime.
Individuals of good antecedents engaged in deadly struggles for the
possession of the most valuable territories, and unbridled orgies
followed these bloody affrays.

During the expedition of Europeans to China in 1900