. . . "So, in the phrase we all know, the lex talionis called for an ???eye for an eye,??? and so on.Writing in the eighteenth century, English lawyer William Blackstone explained why the lex talionis principle really isn???t workable in practice:The difference of persons, place, time, provocation, or other circumstances, may enhance or mitigate the offence; and in such cases retaliation can never be the" . . .