The general attitude of our society to the institution of capital punishment is discussed. Active proposition of capital punishment has given way to passive adherence. The psychology of this passive adherence has to be clearly understood, for the 'mere change of the existing formal laws seldom if ever succeeds in changing the substance of man's attitude'.

The talion principle is part of man's tradition and originates from religious practices, as all law once came from religion. The customary presence of a priest before and during an execution is a remnant of this ancient connection. The author rightly points out the uniqueness of a situation in which a priest 'reconciles a man to an eternity to which not the Lord, but the hand of the executioner is to commit him'. He warns against making the state itself responsible for the persistence of primitive impulses without due consideration of man's psychology. Proofs of the potency of these primitive