OftheProportionbetweenPunishmentsandOffencesI。Wehaveseenthatthegeneralobjectofalllawsistopreventmischief；
thatistosay，whenitisworthwhile；butthat，wheretherearenoothermeansofdoingthisthanpunishment，therearefourcasesinwhichitisnotworthwhile。
II。Whenitisworthwhile，therearefoursubordinatedesignsorobjects，which，inthecourseofhisendeavourstocompass，asfarasmaybe，thatonegeneralobject，alegislator，whoseviewsaregovernedbytheprincipleofutility，comesnaturallytoproposetohimself。
III。1。Hisfirst，mostextensive，andmosteligibleobject，istoprevent，inasfarasitispossible，andworthwhile，allsortsofoffenseswhatsoever:inotherwords，sotomanage，thatnooffensewhatsoevermaybecommitted。
IV。2。Butifamanmustneedscommitanoffenseofsomekindorother，thenextobjectistoinducehimtocommitanoffenselessmischievous，ratherthanonemoremischievous:inotherwords，tochoosealwaystheleastmischievous，oftwooffensesthatwilleitherofthemsuithispurpose。