lex talionis
Lex talionis is the principle that the punishment should mirror the harm done. It appears in the Code of Hammurabi, the Mosaic law and, in a regulated form, in Islamic qisas. Originally it limited revenge by forbidding a penalty greater than the injury.
It belongs to the retributive theory of punishment. Modern Indian criminal law does not follow it: punishments are fixed by statute and guided by proportionality, deterrence and reform. Death penalty debates sometimes invoke it, but the Supreme Court has made clear that sentencing is not retaliation and death is reserved for the rarest of rare cases.
Example
Sentencing under the BNS rejects lex talionis: the court weighs aggravating and mitigating circumstances rather than repaying harm with like harm.
See also
theories of punishment · qisas · rarest of rare · punishment
Read more in the study notes
- Theories of punishment (Jurisprudence)
- The problem of punishment: State force against citizens, kinds and theories of punishment (Political Science - State and Political Obligations)