25 Benjamin Franklin [178s 
the law of Moses was the law of God, the dictate of 
divine wisdom, infinitely superior to human, on what 
principles do we ordain death as the punishment of 
an offence which, according to that law, was only to 
be punished by a restitution of fourfold? To put a 
man to death for an offence which does not deserve 
death, is it not murder? And, as the French writer 
says, Dott-on punir délit contre la société par un crime 
contre la nature ? 
Superfluous property is the creature of society. 
Simple and mild laws were sufficient to guard the 
property that was merely necessary. The savage’s 
bow, his hatchet, and his coat of skins were suffi- 
ciently secured, without law, by the fear of personal 
resentment and retaliation. When, by virtue of the 
first laws, part of the society accumulated wealth 
and grew powerful, they enacted others more severe, 
and would protect their property at the expense of 
humanity. This was abusing their power and com- 
mencing a tyranny. If a savage, before he entered 
into society, had been told: ‘‘ Your neighbor by this 
means may become owner of a hundred deer; but if 
your brother, or your son, or yourself, having no 
deer of your own, and, being hungry, should kill 
one, an infamous death must be the consequence,” 
he would probably have preferred his liberty, and 
his common right of killing any deer, to all the 
advantages of society that might be proposed to 
him. 
That it is better a hundred guilty persons should 
escape than one innocent person should suffer, is a 
a