Front Page Titles (by Subject) Cesare Bonesana di Beccaria

Cesare Bonesana di Beccaria

1738 - 1794

About the Author

Beccaria was an Italian legal philosopher, political economist and politician who was much influenced by the French philosophes. In Milan he introduced a number of legal and monetary reforms but is best known for his 1764 work On Crimes and Punishments in which he advocated an end to torture and the death penalty.

In The Library:

• author: An Essay on Crimes and Punishments (1764)

Quotations:

• Cesare Beccaria says that torture is cruel and barbaric and a violation of the principle that no one should be punished until proven guilty in a court of law; in other words it is the “right of power” (1764) (15 June, 2009)