CHAP. XX.: Of the Punishment of Fathers for the Crimes of their Children.

IN China, fathers are punished for the crimes of their children. This was likewise the custom of Peru See Garcilasso, history of the civil wars of the Spaniards. ^†201; a custom derived from the notion of despotic power.

Little does it signify to say, that, in China, the father is punished for not having exerted that paternal authority which nature has established and the laws themselves have improved. This still supposes that there is no honour among the Chinese. Amongst us, parents, whose children are condemned by the laws of their country, and children Instead of punishing them, says Plato, they ought to be commended for not having followed their father’s example. Book 9. of Laws. ^†202, whose parents have undergone the like fate, are as severely punished by shame, as they would be, in China, by the loss of their lives.