The theory of moral sentiments: By Adam Smith, ...

and evidently wants that sense of what is due to his fellow creatures which is the ba|sis of justice and of society. Gross negli|gence therefore is, in the law, said to be al|most equal to malicious design * 1.1. When any unlucky consequences happen from such carelessness, the person who has been guilty of it is often punished as if he had really intended those consequences; and his conduct, which was only thoughtless and insolent, and what deserved some chastisement, is considered as atrocious, and as liable to the severest punishment. Thus if, by the imprudent action above mentioned, he should accidentally kill a man, he is, by the laws of many coun|tries, particularly by the old law of Scot|land, liable to the last punishment. And tho' this is no doubt excessively severe, it is not altogether inconsistent with our natu|ral sentiments. Our just indignation a|gainst the folly and inhumanity of his conduct is exasperated by our sympathy with the unfortunate sufferer. Nothing however would appear more shocking to our natural sense of equity, than to bring a man to the scaffold merely for having

Notes

* 1.1

Lata culpa prope dolum est.

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Title: The theory of moral sentiments: By Adam Smith, ...
Author: Smith, Adam, 1723-1790.
Canvas: Page 233
Publication: London :: printed for A. Millar; and A. Kincaid and J. Bell, in Edinburgh,; 1759.

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Collection: Eighteenth Century Collection Online Demo
Link to this Item: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eccodemo/k111361.0001.001
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Full citation: "The theory of moral sentiments: By Adam Smith, ..." In the digital collection Eighteenth Century Collection Online Demo. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eccodemo/k111361.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 12, 2025.