These various Acts of Parliament prove how very prominent the evil of receiving stolen goods has been in the view of the Legislature.--It is to be lamented however, that a more general and comprehensive view has not been taken of the subject, by substituting, instead of the piece-meal System which has been from time to time adopted, on suggestions applicable only to particular cases, _one general law that should have embraced every object_, and remedied every defect in the existing Statutes, on this important subject of criminal jurisprudence. That these Laws, numerous as they are, and applicable as many of them appear to be, have not been in any degree effectual, is clearly manifested by the unquestionable increase of the evil, even to an extent beyond all calculation. Under such circumstances, where the Receiver is in reality the greatest offender, and even the source from whence most of the burglaries and highway robberies have their origin, the Thief being not seldom his pupil--_Why should not the Receipt of Stolen Goods be made an original offence?[79]--Why should not the rewards for detection, and the punishment on conviction, be the same, in the case both of the Receiver and the Thief?_ [Footnote 79: The general rule of the ancient Law is this;--that Accessaries shall suffer the same punishment as Principals. If one be liable to death, the other is also liable. BLACKSTONE. In France, (before the Revolution) the offence of receiving stolen goods was punished with death.] In contemplating the best means of preventing depredations upon the public, the simplest and perhaps the most effectual mode would be to _make a stand at this particular point_; by bending the attention _wholly_ to the means of destroying effectually _the trade of Receiving stolen goods_; under the fullest conviction that by accomplishing so valuable a purpose, thieving and swindling in all its branches would also be, in a great measure, destroyed. It is believed, that this object (difficult as it may appear) is attainable, by well digested applicable laws, containing and enforcing such regulations as would ensure a full and energetic execution. The importance of a measure of this kind is so immense, that if even a considerable part of one Session of Parliament were employed in devising and legalizing a proper System, it would be time well and usefully spent for the benefit of the Country. The obvious means of remedy seem to lie within a narrow compass. The first point to be obtained is the _Licensing_ all those dealers (some of them already particularized in pages 292, 293), whose various branches of trade are friendly to the encouragement of depredations; and the putting them under the control of the _Central Board of Police_, in the manner stated more fully in the concluding part of this Work.--