MORELLET, André (trans.); BECCARIA, Cesare.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Traité des délits et des peines First edition, the copy of the translator, Abbé Morellet, with his bookplate on the front pastedown. Morellet's translation undertakes significant adaptations of Beccaria's original work Dei delitti e delle pene (1764), emphasizing the work's utilitarian aspects. Morellet's re-ordering and abridgement of the text was criticized at the time, yet his version became the standard text.Beccaria (1738-1794) was a Milanese philosopher and politician. His work presented some of the earliest modern arguments against the death penalty and was the first in-depth study of the penal system. Dei delitti e delle pene, presumably in Morellet's version, also found influence in America, and saw William Bradford Jr., James Madison's Princeton classmate, observe in 1786 that Beccaria's "authority has become great, and his principles have spread among all classes of persons" (Bessler, p. ii).

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