If
therefore there appears in the City, Nation, State, or Commonwealth, a
certain new and peculiar power, which belongs to no individual in the
"state of nature," or, as I prefer to call it, the _extra-civil
state_, then what we may designate as the Aggregation Theory breaks
down, and another origin must be sought of civil principality. But
there is such a power in the State, new and peculiar, and not found in
any of the component individuals: it is the power and authority to
punish on civil grounds. It is the right of the rods and axes, that
were borne before the Roman magistrate. It is, in its most crucial
form, the right to punish with death.
2. We are not here concerned with proving the existence of this right.
It is generally admitted: we assume it accordingly, and shall prove it
later on. Nor are we concerned with _domestic punishment_, inflicted
by the head of a family within his own household, for the good of that
household, stopping short of any _irreparable harm_ to the sufferer.
(St. Thos., 2a 2a, q. 65, art. 2, ad. 2.) Leaving this aside, we say,
and have proved already, that one private individual has no right to
punish another, neither _medicinally_ for the amendment of the
delinquent, nor by way of _deterrent_ for the good of the community,
nor in the way of _retribution_ for his own satisfaction.
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