Note 1878 — Chapter X · DECLINE OF THE TORTURE SYSTEM.
Reading edition
Dei Delitti e delle Pene, § XII.—The fundamental error in the prevalent system of criminal procedure was well exposed in Beccaria’s remark that a mathematician would be better than a legist for the solution of the essential problem in criminal trials—“Data la forza dei muscoli e la sensibilitá delle fibre di un innocente, trovare il grado di dolore che lo farà confessar reo di un dato delitto.”