In the early nineteenth century [in England] there were over two hundred crimes for which the punishment was death. "It was a capital offense to pick a man's pocket, it was a capital offense to steal five shillings from a shop; it was a capital offense to rob a rabbit warren; it was a capital offense to cut down a tree." This state of affairs tended on the one hand to cause occasional oversevere punishment, and on the other hand to discourage juries from bringing in a verdict of guilty.
(from A History of England and the British Empire)
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