was applied only to the _conatus proximus_ in a few specified cases of a very heinous character.[148] [Footnote 137: Kohler, in _Zeitschr. f. vergl. Rechtswiss._ xv. 353.] [Footnote 138: Merker, quoted by Kohler, _ibid._ xv. 63.] [Footnote 139: Kohler, _ibid._ xiv. 418.] [Footnote 140: Kovalewsky, _Coutume contemporaine_, p. 296 _sq._] [Footnote 141: Dareste, _Nouvelles études d'histoire du droit_, p. 237.] [Footnote 142: Kovalewsky, _op. cit._ pp. 291, 299.] [Footnote 143: Wilda, _op. cit._ p. 598 _sqq._ Zachariä, _Die Lehre vom Versuche der Verbrechen_, i. 164 _sqq._; ii. 130 _sq._ Brunner, _Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte_, ii. 558 _sqq._ Pollock and Maitland, ii. 475, 509.] [Footnote 144: Seeger, _Versuch der Verbrechen in der Wissenschaft des Mittelalters_, p. 8.] [Footnote 145: Zachariä, _op. cit._ i. 169; ii. 141. von Feuerbach-Mittermaier, _Lehrbuch des Peinlichen Rechts_, p. 74.] [Footnote 146: _Code Pénal_, art. 2: "Toute tentative de crime qui aura été manifestée par un commencement d'exécution, si elle n'a été suspendue ou si elle n'a manqué son effet que par des circonstances indépendantes de la volonté de son auteur, est considérée comme le crime même."] [Footnote 147: Chauveau and Hélie, _Théorie du Code Pénal_, i. 347 _sq._] [Footnote 148: _Ibid._ i. 337 _sq._] Besides the provision of the Code Pénal concerning attempt, there are a few other exceptions, of an earlier date, to the general rule. The Romans seemed to have followed the principle "dolus pro facto accipitur,"[149] at least if the crime attempted was a serious one.[150] A somewhat similar line was adopted by ancient Irish law. The general impression produced by the rules in the commentary to the Book of Aicill is, that the attempt to commit an injurious act was treated as equivalent to its commission, unless the result was very insignificant. Thus, if an attempt was made to slay, or to inflict an injury which would endure for life, and blood was shed, the fine was the same as if the attempt had succeeded; whereas, if the injury did not amount to the shedding of blood, the fine was reduced one-half.[151] And if a man went to kill one person and killed another by mistake, a fine for the intention, in addition to the fine due to the friends of the murdered man, was due to him whose death was intended, even though no injury was actually done to him.[152] In England, at the end of the Middle Ages, the will was taken for the deed in cases of obvious attempts to murder; but this rule appears to have been considered too severe--even in an age when death was the common punishment for felony--and to have fallen into disuse several centuries ago.[153] [Footnote 149: _Digesta_, xlviii. 8. 7.]