In a review, a while back, I men\u00adtioned Dr. John Snow, the founder of mod\u00adern epi\u00addemi\u00adol\u00ado\u00adgy, as an exam\u00adple of a per\u00adson who should be incred\u00adi\u00adbly famous, but is not. Our received con\u00adnect-the-dots his\u00adto\u00adry of the world high\u00adlights many incon\u00adse\u00adquen\u00adtial and pho\u00adny per\u00adson\u00adal\u00adi\u00adties, and gen\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly ignores the peo\u00adple who real\u00adly do things for the human race.<\/p>\n
Two strik\u00ading exam\u00adples would be the sel\u00addom men\u00adtioned Enlight\u00aden\u00adment thinkers, Cesare Bec\u00adca\u00adria and Joseph Michel Antoine Ser\u00advan, with whom I would con\u00adtrast the end\u00adless his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal ref\u00ader\u00adences to Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Despite many attempts to cred\u00adit events like the Amer\u00adi\u00adcan Rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion and \u201cthe advent of moder\u00adni\u00adty\u201d to the influ\u00adence of Rousseau, the case is overblown. Rousseau was indeed a celebri\u00adty at the time, and wide\u00adly read. But his ideas were, in the main, child\u00adish and inco\u00adher\u00adent. They were of lit\u00adtle use to any\u00adone who want\u00aded to reform soci\u00adety. There were seri\u00adous peo\u00adple around at that time who were build\u00ading afresh in the New World, and improv\u00ading and reform\u00ading the Old, and few of them drew much on Rousseau for ideas. Thomas Jef\u00adfer\u00adson, for instance, whose name is rou\u00adtine\u00adly linked to Rousseau in the con\u00adnect-the-dots tem\u00adplate, rarely men\u00adtioned him.<\/p>\n
Jef\u00adfer\u00adson did acknowl\u00adedge many influ\u00adences, includ\u00ading Mon\u00adtesquieu (who is at least mod\u00ader\u00adate\u00adly well-known to read\u00aders). Mon\u00adtesquieu was the most fre\u00adquent\u00adly quot\u00aded author\u00adi\u00adty on gov\u00adern\u00adment and pol\u00adi\u00adtics in colo\u00adnial pre-rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion\u00adary Amer\u00adi\u00adca. But, Mon\u00adtesquieu was already old stuff when Jefferson\u2019s phi\u00adlos\u00ado\u00adphy geled. Oth\u00ader, new\u00ader, and more rad\u00adi\u00adcal writ\u00aders excit\u00aded his spe\u00adcial inter\u00adest. Promi\u00adnent among them was the Ital\u00adian thinker Cesare march\u00adese di Bec\u00adca\u00adria-Bone\u00adsana. John Adams also read Bec\u00adca\u00adria with great atten\u00adtion. So did almost any\u00adone in Europe and Amer\u00adi\u00adca with a sin\u00adcere inter\u00adest in improv\u00ading humanity\u2019s social and polit\u00adi\u00adcal con\u00addi\u00adtions. His Dei Delit\u00adti e delle Pene (\u201cOn Crimes and Pun\u00adish\u00adments\u201d), pub\u00adlished in 1764, when Bec\u00adca\u00adria was only twen\u00adty-six years old [my sources con\u00adflict, one (Louis Cromp\u00adton) giv\u00ading it as 1761 ] was a call to reform Europe\u2019s legal codes.<\/p>\n
Bec\u00adca\u00adria was a Milanese. Among the chaot\u00adic states of Italy, it was in Milan that the Enlight\u00aden\u00adment took hold. There, a group of pugna\u00adcious young stu\u00addents and lit\u00ader\u00adat\u00adti formed a satyri\u00adcal \u201cAccad\u00ade\u00admia dei pug\u00adni\u201d, mak\u00ading fun of the pon\u00adder\u00adous insti\u00adtutes of the day, and then a jour\u00adnal, sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant\u00adly named Il Caf\u00adf\u00e9. Cof\u00adfee played the socio-polit\u00adi\u00adcal role of mar\u00adi\u00adjua\u00adna in the eigh\u00adteenth century.<\/p>\n
The open\u00ading of his Dei Delit\u00adti e delle Pene sets its rad\u00adi\u00adcal tone. I\u2019ve only read it in French, but in Eng\u00adlish it would read: \u201cSome remains of the laws of an ancient preda\u00adto\u00adry race [Bec\u00adca\u00adria means the Romans], com\u00adpiled by an Emper\u00ador who lived in Con\u00adstan\u00adtino\u00adple twelve cen\u00adturies ago, then mixed with the cus\u00adtoms of the Lom\u00adbard tribe, then cob\u00adbled togeth\u00ader in a mess of obscu\u00adran\u00adtist, bad\u00adly trans\u00adlat\u00aded tomes, forms the basis of what Euro\u00adpeans call Law.\u201d Bec\u00adca\u00adria was par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly offend\u00aded by tor\u00adture and cru\u00adel pun\u00adish\u00adments, and called for an end to the death penal\u00adty. He may even have been the first to do so. But he did not end with these inno\u00adva\u00adtions. He set forth, in plain lan\u00adguage, almost all the noblest prin\u00adci\u00adples of mod\u00adern jus\u00adtice: that the accused should be seen as inno\u00adcent until proven guilty, pun\u00adish\u00adments pro\u00adpor\u00adtion\u00adal to crimes, jus\u00adtice undu\u00adly delayed is not jus\u00adtice, the sep\u00ada\u00adra\u00adtion of the law from arbi\u00adtrary cus\u00adtoms and reli\u00adgious obses\u00adsions, the inva\u00adlid\u00adi\u00adty of con\u00adfes\u00adsions under duress. He called for an end to the bar\u00adbar\u00adi\u00adties that ren\u00addered law arbi\u00adtrary, irra\u00adtional, and tyran\u00adni\u00adcal. We could eas\u00adi\u00adly use his cat\u00ada\u00adlog of issues to sep\u00ada\u00adrate the advanced and back\u00adward states in what we would now call \u201chuman rights\u201d.<\/p>\n
Bec\u00adca\u00adria was not unheed\u00aded. His youth\u00adful trea\u00adtise had a pro\u00adfound influ\u00adence on the laws of Europe. With\u00adin a few years, it had been trans\u00adlat\u00aded into most major Euro\u00adpean lan\u00adguages, and was repub\u00adlished by Voltaire wih an inter\u00adest\u00ading com\u00admen\u00adtary. It was the cen\u00adtral text of legal reform through\u00adout the con\u00adti\u00adnent. With\u00adin a gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion, judi\u00adcial tor\u00adture was struck down in the prac\u00adtices of most Euro\u00adpean states (at least offi\u00adcial\u00adly). He was less suc\u00adcess\u00adful in pro\u00admot\u00ading his most advanced idea, the abo\u00adli\u00adtion of the death penal\u00adty. Bec\u00adca\u00adria argued that the claim of the State to the right to kill peo\u00adple was essen\u00adtial\u00adly a claim to own them, and was the ulti\u00admate expres\u00adsion of the State as slave-hold\u00ader. He con\u00advinced almost no-one, except the leg\u00adis\u00adla\u00adture of the Grand Duchy of Tus\u00adcany, which was the lin\u00adear descen\u00addant of the Flo\u00adren\u00adtine Repub\u00adlic. In 1786, that state became the first to abol\u00adish the death penal\u00adty, cit\u00ading Bec\u00adca\u00adria directly.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t find all of Beccaria\u2019s influ\u00adence entire\u00adly good. Many of his argu\u00adments presage the Util\u00adi\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adan move\u00adment, which placed free\u00addom on slip\u00adpery sands and crip\u00adpled polit\u00adi\u00adcal thought in the Eng\u00adlish-speak\u00ading world with inco\u00adher\u00adence. But, on the whole, his influ\u00adence was for the good, and his work dis\u00adplays both intel\u00adlec\u00adtu\u00adal clar\u00adi\u00adty and gen\u00adtle human\u00adi\u00adty. He was a voice of rea\u00adson in a world of brutes, scream\u00ading sav\u00adages and hys\u00adtri\u00adon\u00adic poseurs.<\/p>\n
Anoth\u00ader exam\u00adple of neglect is Joseph Michel Antoine Ser\u00advan (1737\u20131807), with his Dis\u00adcours sur La jus\u00adtice crim\u00adinelle, pub\u00adlished short\u00adly after Bec\u00adca\u00adria. Ser\u00advan was less rad\u00adi\u00adcal than Bec\u00adca\u00adria, but he made elo\u00adquent protests against the sever\u00adi\u00adty and inequal\u00adi\u00adties of legal codes. He turned down many hon\u00adours and prof\u00aditable appoint\u00adments when they proved cor\u00adrupt or com\u00adpro\u00admis\u00ading, and stood up against Napoleon\u2019s Empire.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sure that schol\u00adars of legal his\u00adto\u00adry know these two men well, but they are unlike\u00adly to turn up in broad\u00ader his\u00adto\u00adries as any\u00adthing but foot\u00adnotes. Part of the rea\u00adson for the neglect of Bec\u00adca\u00adria is that he was Ital\u00adian. The Enlight\u00aden\u00adment has come to be seen as a French thing. This is disin\u00adgen\u00adu\u00adous. France, at the time, was a total\u00adi\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adan state, sim\u00adi\u00adlar in many ways to the Com\u00admu\u00adnist Impe\u00adri\u00adal\u00adist pow\u00aders of the twen\u00adti\u00adeth cen\u00adtu\u00adry. State cen\u00adsor\u00adship, secret police, and inform\u00aders made most enlight\u00adened dis\u00adcourse and pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtion impos\u00adsi\u00adble in that coun\u00adtry. The bulk of Enlight\u00aden\u00adment think\u00ading took place in the Nether\u00adlands, the freest state in Europe, where rad\u00adi\u00adcal books could be pub\u00adlished and dis\u00adcussed open\u00adly. Milan, and some cities in Ger\u00admany, Scan\u00addi\u00adnavia and Switzer\u00adland were sec\u00adondary cen\u00adters. Enlight\u00aden\u00adment intel\u00adlec\u00adtu\u00adals were drawn from every\u00adwhere in Europe, and were part of a cos\u00admopoli\u00adtan cul\u00adture. French writ\u00aders were among them, but they were some among many voic\u00ades. A sub\u00adse\u00adquent \u201csort\u00ading process\u201d, which favoured the super\u00adpow\u00aders of the nine\u00adteenth cen\u00adtu\u00adry, cre\u00adat\u00aded the impres\u00adsion that this was all tak\u00ading place in Paris, and con\u00adsigned writ\u00aders in Dutch, Ital\u00adian, Dan\u00adish, and oth\u00ader \u201cminor\u201d lan\u00adguages to oblivion.<\/p>\n
Today, it would be salu\u00adto\u00adry for peo\u00adple in the Unit\u00aded States and Cana\u00adda to take anoth\u00ader look at men like Bec\u00adca\u00adria and Ser\u00advan. Espe\u00adcial\u00adly in the Unit\u00aded States, where some of Beccaria\u2019s lessons where nev\u00ader learned, and where what was absorbed is now rapid\u00adly dis\u00adin\u00adte\u00adgrat\u00ading. The most fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal prin\u00adci\u00adples of jus\u00adtice and lib\u00ader\u00adty are under attack in the U.S., and the coun\u00adtry is rapid\u00adly descend\u00ading into igno\u00adrance and sav\u00adagery. It\u2019s time to crack open the books, and read some\u00adthing with a lit\u00adtle more sub\u00adstance than Rousseau.<\/p>\n
[for cita\u00adtions, go to Read\u00ading for Novem\u00adber, 2006]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a review, a while back, I men\u00adtioned Dr. John Snow, the founder of mod\u00adern epi\u00addemi\u00adol\u00ado\u00adgy, as an exam\u00adple of a per\u00adson who should be incred\u00adi\u00adbly famous, but is not. Our received con\u00adnect-the-dots his\u00adto\u00adry of the world high\u00adlights many incon\u00adse\u00adquen\u00adtial and \u2026<\/p>\n