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Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow Chap. XV.... It is sometimes proper that the law shall correct itself. - A Commentary and Review of Montesquieu's 'Spirit of Laws'

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Chap. XV…. It is sometimes proper that the law shall correct itself. - Antoine Louis Claude, Comte Destutt de Tracy, A Commentary and Review of Montesquieu’s ’Spirit of Laws’ [1811]

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A Commentary and Review of Montesquieu’s ’Spirit of Laws’: To which are annexed, Observations on the Thirty First Book by the late M. Condorcet; and Two Letters of Helvetius, on the Merits of the same Work, trans. Thomas Jefferson (Philadelphia: William Duane, 1811).

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Chap. XV.... It is sometimes proper that the law shall correct itself.

Every man, who kills another, is guilty of murder, if not of assassination, unless he has killed him in self-defence, to save his own life or that of another; and to be considered innocent this excuse should at least be probable.

The laws of the twelve tables were bad.

Besides, does Montesquieu imply any thing more than that a law may require some modifications, and the discrimination of certain circumstances? All this is true and common; but he might have said it in a more simple and useful manner.