The most extreme punishment we consider to be is death.

Explanation

(English-origin maxim.) Because death is the ultimate penalty, it establishes the outer boundary of the state's punitive power — no punishment may exceed it, and its imposition demands the most rigorous procedural safeguards recognized under the common law.

Where this applies

• A court overturns a sentence of prolonged torture as unconstitutional, reasoning that death itself is the maximum punishment and nothing more severe can be lawfully imposed.
• A defendant argues that the combined effect of his sentence — decades in solitary confinement — effectively exceeds death and is therefore unlawful.
• A legal scholar argues that because death is the outer boundary of punishment, any penalty designed to be worse than death violates fundamental principles of justice.

See also

• 7.8.29 Death is called the "last punishment," the "extremity of punishment".