The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham – serie

The essays which Bentham collected together for publication in 1830 under the title of Official Aptitude Maximized; Expense Minimized, written at various times between 1810 and 1830, deal with the means of achieving efficient and economical government. In considering a wide range of themes in the fields of constitutional law, public finance, and legal reform, Bentham places the problem of official corruption at the centre of his analysis. He contrasts his own recommendations for good administration, which he had fully developed in his magisterial Constitutional Code, with the severe deficiencies he saw in English practice. The core of the volume consists of four major essays directed against the principles and policies of four leading statesmen: Edmund Burke, George Rose, Robert Peel, and Lord Chancellor Eldon. Of particular concern to Bentham were the abuses sanctioned by the judges and their officials in the Westminster Hall courts, which, he argues, resulted in the denial of justice to the majority of the population. In this volume, Bentham not only displays the precise logical reasoning for which he is well known, but also his considerable skills as a rhetorician of reform.

The new critical edition of the works and correspondence of Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) is being prepared and published under the supervision of the Bentham Committee of University College London. In spite of his importance as jurist, philosopher, and social scientist, and leader of the Utilitarian reformers, the only previous edition of his works was a poorly edited and incomplete one brought out within a decade or so of his death. Eight volumes of the new Collected Works, five of correspondence, and three of writings on jurisprudence, appeared between 1968 and 1981, published by the Athlone Press. Further volumes in the series since then are published by Oxford University Press. The overall plan and principles of the edition are set out in the General Preface to The Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham, vol. 1, which was the first volume of the Collected Works to be published.An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, Jeremy Bentham's best-known work, is a classic text in modern philosophy and jurisprudence. First published in 1789, it contains the important statement of the foundations of utilitarian philosophy and a pioneering study of crime and punishment, both of which remain at the heart of contemporary debates in moral and political philosophy, economics, and legal theory. Printed here in full is the definitive edition, edited by the distinguished scholars J. H. Burns and H. L. A. Hart. An introductory essay by Hart, first published in 1982 and a widely acknowledged classic in its own right, is reprinted here. It contains an important analysis of Bentham's principle of utility, theory of action, and an account of the relationship between law and morality.A new introduction by the leading Bentham scholar F. Rosen, specially written for this Clarendon Paperback edition, provides students with a helpful survey of Bentham's main ideas and an extensive bibliographical study of recent critical work on Bentham. Professor Rosen's essay also contains a new analysis of the principle of utility in Bentham's philosophy which is compared with its use in Hume and J. S. Mill.

Bentham's central concern during the 1810s and 1820s was with the codification of the law. Rejecting both the common law and the historical approach to codification, he argued that a code of law should be based on a rigorous logical analysis of the categories of human action, and that each enactment should be followed by the reasons which justified it. Such an `all-comprehensive' code containing an `interwoven rationale' would signal a new era in legislation. Once one state had adopted such a code, other states would be obliged to follow its example, and Bentham would become in effect 'legislator of the world'. Bentham attempted to persuade legislative authorities in the United States of America, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Greece, South and Central America, and elsewhere, to invite him to draft a code of law for them. The works presented in this volume record in fascinating detail Bentham's dealings with such eminent figures as James Madison, John Quincy Adams, Emperor Alexander I, Prince Adam Czartoryski, Alexander Mavrokordatos, Bernadino Rivadavia, and José del Valle. The production of a methodology for codification ranks as one of Bentham's outstanding theoretical achievements. Through the materials presented in this volume he emerges as a seminal figure in the development of liberalism throughout Europe and America in the early nineteenth century.

Political Tactics, composed for the Estates General in the months just prior to the outbreak of the French Revolution, is one of Bentham's most original works. It contains the earliest and perhaps most important theoretical analysis of parliamentary procedure ever written. It was subsequently translated into many languages and has had a far-reaching influence -- for instance, it provided the basis for the regulations adopted in the 1820s governing the procedures of the Buenos Aires assembly, and as recently as the early 1990s it was reprinted by the Spanish Cortes. With typical thoroughness and insight, Bentham discusses such central themes as the publicity of procedings, the rules of debate, the conduct of deputies, and the proper steps to be taken in composing, proposing, and voting on a motion. Even such relatively minor points as the size of the assembly-room and the costume of the deputies are not overlooked. All along Bentham illustrates his points by reference to the actual practice of both the British Houses of Parliament and the French provincial assemblies.

This eleventh volume of Bentham's Correspondence contains nearly three hundred letters, and covers the period from January 1822 to June 1824. The letters, most of which have never before been published, have been collected from archives, private and official, as far afield as Athens and Bogotá, as well as from the collections of Bentham Papers at University College London and the British Library. By the early 1820s Bentham had acquired an international reputation, and corresponded with leading figures in Europe, the United States of America, and many of the newly independent states of Central and South America. His correspondents included such notable figures as Simón Bolívar, the Liberator of South America; Jean Pierre Boyer, President of Haiti; José da Silva Carvalho, Minister of Justice in Portugal; Étienne Dumont, Bentham's Genevan editor; Bernardino Rivadavia, first President of the United Provinces of Río de la Plata; Jean Baptiste Say, the economist; and members of the provisional government of Greece. Bentham also corresponded with numerous public figures and personal friends in Britain, including Edward Blaquiere, James Silk Buckingham, Richard Carlile, John Cartwright, Rowland and Matthew Davenport Hill, James Mill, Samuel Parr, Francis Place, Leicester Stanhope, and Frances Wright. As well as covering such matters as the launch of the Westminster Review, and his first plan for the Auto-Icon, the volume testifies to the growing importance to Bentham of his writings on codification. Having received news that the Portuguese Cortes had accepted his offer to draw up a complete code of laws, he began to draft material for his Constitutional Code. He became involved in promoting constitutional reform in Tripoli and Greece, and was extensively involved in the negotiations surrounding the Greek Loan raised in London in 1824.

A critical edition of three of Bentham's works, Deontology and The Article on Utilitarianism previously unpublished. Together with his An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, they provide a comprehensive picture of Bentham's psychological and ethical views. This edition, based entirely on manuscripts written by Bentham of by his amanuenses, is equipped with a full introduction linking the three works. Each work is accompanied by detailed critical and explanatory notes.

Colonies, Commerce, and Constitutional Law is a major theoretical analysis of the harmful effects of colonies on commerce and constitiutional democracy, and is one of the most important studies of colonialism written in the nineteenth century. Of the four essays collected in this voloume, three have been edited directly from the original manuscript sources. The only essay to have appeared in print, `Observations on the Restrictive and Prohibitory Commercial System', is generally regarded as an early classic statement of the beneficial effects of freedom of trade. In the these pioneering essays written in 1820-2, Bentham provided a penetrating critique of colonialism from within the liberal utilitarian tradition. Applying his general principles to the case of Spain and Spanish America, he argued that any attempt by Spain to maintain dominion over her Empire, or even to maintain a claim to the dominion was fundamentally misguided. Colonies were not a source of wealth to the colonizing country, but rather led to the imposition of increased taxation. Moreover, the existence of colonies increased the amount of patronage at the disposal of Spain's rulers, and thus would facilitate the corruption of the members of the new legislative assembly and eventually lead to the restoration of the ancient despotism. Colonies were not only wasteful and expensive, but posed a threat to constitutional government itself. The should therefore be granted unconditional independence, as a prererequisite to the establishment of unrestricted commercial relations, which would produce mutual benefit to both Spain and Spanish Amarica.

Much of Bentham's correspondence of this period is concerned with his persistent but eventually unsuccessful efforts to secure the implementation of his Panopticon penitentiary scheme. The letters also throw light on his work in other fields, especially public finance and the reform of the police.

This is the seventh volume of Bentham's Correspondence, and nearly three-quarters of the letters included in it have not been published before.In 1802 Bentham started to acquire an international reputation through the publication of his Traités de législation civile et pénale. The correspondence contains information about the numerous last-minute revisions which Bentham suggested, about early reactions to the work, and about its translation into Russian. When, in 1802 - 3, Bentham failed in his attempt to get his Panopticon penitentiary project implemented by the government, he turned his attention to adjective law, writing extensively about evidence and procedure, and in 1808 he published a substantial pamphlet on the reform of the Scottish judicature. Exchanges of letters with Sir Samuel Romilly, Francis Horner and others throw some light on the composition of these works and also illuminate aspects of his personal life: his relationships with his brother Samuel, with his Genevan editor Etienne Dumont, with Lord Holland's sister Caroline Fox, to whom he proposed marriage in 1805, and with Aaron Burr, adventurer and former vice-president of the United States, who formed a close friendship with him in 1808.

This is the eighth volume of the Correspondence produced in the new edition of The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham. Nearly three-quarters of the letters included in this eighth volume of Correspondence have not been previously published.During the years covered by this volume, Bentham's Panopticon penitentiary scheme was finally rejected by the government; and his efforts to secure its implementation, and then to gain adequate compensation, form a major and recurring theme. But the letters do much more than complete the Panopticon saga. They give an insight into Bentham's relations with his editors and followers Étienne Dumont and James Mill, and provide information on the writing, editing, and in some cases, printing and publishing of works on law, politics, religion, and education. Just as important is the clear impression the correspondence gives of his contacts, especially with the legal and political reformers of the day. Prior to these new volumes, the only edition of Bentham's works was a poorly edited and incomplete one brought out within a decade or so of his death.

These letters - the vast majority of which have never been published before - illustrate many aspects of Bentham's public and private life. The composition, editing, printing, publishing, and reception of several of his writings are discussed, while the correspondence with his secretary and protégé John Herbert Koe gives a unique insight into Bentham's working methods. The proposed Chrestomathic School is the subject of many of the letters of 1820, though even in that year Bentham's involvement in the world of radical politics emerges clearly. The volume also testifies to his burgeoning international reputation, and to his interest in reform in North and South America, Russia, Spain, France, and Geneva.

This is the tenth volume of the Correspondence produced in the new edition of The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham. The great majority of the letters have never before been published. They illustrate the composition, editing, publication, and reception of several of his works. The volume reveals Bentham's attempts to influence developments in France, the USA, Greece, Spain, Portugal, and South America.Despite Bentham's importance as jurist, philosopher, and social scientist, and leader of the Utilitarian reformers, the only previous edition of his works was a poorly edited and incomplete one brought out within a decade or so of his death. This new critical edition of his works and correspondence is being prepared by the Bentham Committee of University College London.

The writings collected in this volume make an important addition to The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham. They lend credence to Bentham's claim that his ideas were appropriate `for the use of all nations and all governments professing liberal opinions'. The essays, dating mainly from late 1822 and early 1823, are based exclusively on manuscripts, many of which have not been previously published.Turning his attention towards the Mediterranean basin, Bentham here attempts to legislate for one Islamic state, and offers advice to another in the process of throwing off Islamic rule. The Writings for Tripoli include the famous `Securities against Misrule', in which Bentham draws up a constitutional charter with an accompanying explanation of its provisions. He also discusses the social, political, and religious institutions of the country, and proposes a scheme for the introduction of constitutional reform both there and in the other Barbary states. The Writings for Greece include a rare commentary on the first Greek constitution of 1822, and advice and warnings to the Greek legislators against the temptation of `sinister appetites'. The main theme in both groups of writings is the efficacy of representative institutions and the publicity of official actions in preventing the abuse of government power.

The four essays by Jeremy Bentham assembled in this volume date from the spring and summer of 1822 and are based exclusively on manuscripts, many of which have never before been published. In the essays `Economy as Applied to Office', `Identification of Interests', `Supreme Operative', and `Constitutional Code Rationale', Bentham develops the general principles of constitutional law and government which underpin the detailed administrative provisions set out in Constitutional Code . In addition, original and penetrating discussions of such topics as sovereignty, constitutional rule, democratic and monarchical government, public finance, the aptitude and powers of officials, corruption, the influence of public opinion, and the delusive effect of religion and titles of honour, affirm Bentham's status as a political theorist of the first rank. As an important application of utilitarian principles to the structure and organization of government, and a major contribution to the theory of representative democracy, this volume will be of interest to students of philosophy, law, politics, economics, and history.

The present edition of The Book of Fallacies is the first that follows Bentham's own structure for the work, and includes a great deal of material, both in terms of the fallacies themselves and the illustrative matter, that previous versions of the work have omitted. The fallacies that concerned Bentham were not logical errors of the sort identified by Aristotle, or commonplace misunderstandings of matters of fact, but arguments deployed in political debate, in particular in the British Parliament, in order to prevent reform.Bentham not only identified, described, and criticized the fallacious arguments in question, which were all characterized by their irrelevancy, but explained the sinister interests that led politicians to employ them and their supporters to accept them. By exposing these political fallacies, Bentham hoped to prevent their employment in future, and thereby to place political debate on its only proper ground, namely considerations drawn from the principle of utility.

In the mid-1780s Bentham drafted his first sustained discussions of political economy and public finance for Projet Matière (itself part of Projet d'un corps de loix complet). Those discussions are now lost, but the corresponding marginal contents open this volume, followed by three closely related appendices. The volume continues with Defence of Usury, first published 1787, which was well received, quickly translated, and established some reputation for Bentham in political economy. In 1790, whilst preparing a second edition, Bentham drafted the raft of additional materials included here in five appendices. At the same time he began Manual of Political Economy, an introductory handbook which he never finished, while the surviving text appears here, supplemented by seven appendices. In March 1793 Bentham reacted to press reports of the Irish Budget by composing A Protest against Law Taxes, a trenchant critique of the taxation of legal proceedings, and the denial of justice to the poor, which was printed in 1793, published in 1795, and extended in 1816, and which completes the volume.

Preparatory Principles is not a linear text in the conventional sense, but consists of a series of short passages on a variety of topics, whose themes are summarised in marginal headings. The material constitutes a philosophical commonplace book, compiled by Bentham in the mid-1770s, in which he worked out the foundational ideas for his new science of legislation. He then drew on this material when composing such works as A Fragment on Government and An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. Inspired by such figures as John Locke and Claude Adrien Helvétius, Bentham developed an original ontological and epistemological basis for legal terminology, with the aim of replacing the traditional terminology of English law with that of universal jurisprudence. The work that dominates the text, in that Bentham returns to it time and time again in order to offer criticism of it, is William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England. While unorganized and fragmentary, the material in Preparatory Principles constitutes a remarkable record of the evolving ideas of a major legal philosopher at a formative stage of his career.

The works contained in this volume, 'Supply without Burthen' and 'Proposals relative to divers modes of Supply', were drafted by Bentham in 1794, during an intense period of activity in which he set out systematically to review possible sources of public revenue. Bentham had long believed that the appropriation of a proportion of the estates of those dying without near relations offered a painless method of raising public revenue, and now developed the proposal in detail, before sending a précis to Charles Long, Secretary to the Treasury. Fifteen months later that précis, with some additions, was published as 'Supply without Burthen', and opens the present volume. Bentham drafted considerable additional material for 'Supply without Burthen' which was neither sent to Long nor published, and which is the source for four Appendices in the present volume. By late September 1794, Bentham envisaged 'Supply without Burthen' as the first of a related series of proposals for generating public revenue. The remaining proposals ranged from further painless expedients, through taxation with compensatory benefit, to taxation pure and simple. Since Bentham viewed all these proposals as connected elements of a single generic enterprise, the fruits of his labours (excepting the proposal which he did publish, namely 'Supply without Burthen') are published together for the first time in the present volume as 'Proposals relative to divers modes of Supply'. This work is followed by six Appendices which shed further light on Bentham's approach to raising public revenue, including his first articulation of what would reappear five years later as his Annuity Note Scheme.

In these essays Bentham lays down the theoretical principles from which he develops his proposals for reform of the English poor laws in response to the perceived crisis in poor relief in the mid-1790s. These ideas had a significant influence on the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834.

The French Revolution provided Bentham with what appeared to him to be an exciting opportunity to influence the reconstruction of the French state. Drawing on his knowledge of English political and constitutional practice, as well as the theoretical resources he had developed in his own work, he suggested imaginative and innovative measures to achieve the peaceful and constitutional reform in France. In discussing the nature of representation he produced the earliest utilitarian justification of political equality and representative democracy, even recommending women's suffrage. Moreover, he provided a major critique of the dominant constitutional theory of the division of power, including both the doctrine of the balance of powers and that of the separation of powers. Turning his attention to Britain, for a time he advocated measures of parlimentary reform, but becoming disenchanted with the course of the Revolution he produced the celebrated 'Nonsense upon Stilts' (hitherto known as 'Anarchical Fallacies'), the most devastating attack on the theory of natural rights ever written, in which he argued that natural rights provided an unsuitable basis for stable legal and political arrangements. All the essays published in this volume, with the exception of Emancipate your Colonies!, an important early critique of colony-holding, are based on the original manuscript sources, many of which have not been previously published in any form.

This twelfth volume of Correspondence contains authoritative and fully annotated texts of all known letters sent both to and from Bentham between July 1824 and June 1828. The 301 letters, most of which have never before been published, have been collected from archives, public and private, in Britain, the United States of America, Switzerland, France, Japan, and elsewhere, as well as from the major collections of Bentham Papers at University College London Library and the British Library.In mid-1824 Bentham was still preoccupied with the Greek struggle for independence against Turkey, though his active involvement waned as he became disenchanted with the behaviour of the deputies sent to London by the Greek National Assembly. His international reputation was reflected in his continuing contact with Simón Bolívar and Bernardino Rivadavia in South America, and with John Quincy Adams, John Neal, Henry Wheaton, and others in the United States, and his forging of new contacts in Guatemala, India, and Egypt. In the autumn of 1825 he visited France, where he stayed with Jean Baptiste Say and La Fayette, and was fêted by the French liberals.Bentham made considerable progress drafting material for his pannomion, or complete code of laws, and in particular for his Constitutional and Procedure Codes, while John Stuart Mill edited the massive Rationale of Judicial Evidence. Bentham became increasingly active in the cause of law reform, and exchanged a series of letters on the subject with Robert Peel, the Home Secretary, and Henry Brougham. He maintained his friendships with John and Sarah Austin, George and Harriet Grote, James and John Stuart Mill, John Bowring, Joseph Hume, Francis Burdett, Francis Place, and Joseph Parkes, re-established contact with the third Marquis of Lansdowne, son of his old friend the first Marquis, and made new acquaintances in James Humphreys, Sutton Sharpe, and Albany Fonblanque.

In the two related works in this volume, Bentham offers a detailed critique of William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765-9). In 'Comment on the Commentaries', on which Bentham began work in 1774, he exposes the fallacies which he claims to have detected in Blackstone, and criticizes the theory of the Common Law. He goes on to provide important reflections on the nature of law, and more particularly on the nature of customary and of statute law, and on judicial interpretation.A Fragment on Government, which was published in 1776, was detached from the 'Comment on the Commentaries'. Concentrating on a passage of five or six pages in which Blackstone discusses the origin of society and government, Bentham offers three main criticisms. First, he criticizes Blackstone's methodology for failing to distinguish between the role of the expositor and the role of the censor, and thereby confusing the question of what the law is with the question of what the law ought to be. Second, he criticizes Blackstone's assumption that the theory of the social contract represents an adequate justification of the obligation to obey government. Third, he criticizes Blackstone's theory of sovereignty, which claims that in every state there must exist some absolute, undivided power, whose commands are law. Bentham points to the existence of states where sovereign power is both divided and limited.In these two works, published by OUP for the first time, Bentham outlines a number of themes which he goes on to develop in his later works: the principle of utility; the importance of a 'natural arrangement' for a legal system; the point at which resistance to government becomes justifiable; the exposition of legal terms; and much more.The volume also contains Bentham's 'Preface' intended for, but not published in, the second edition of A Fragment on Government, which appeared in 1823. Having by this committed himself to political radicalism, Bentham uses this occasion to reflect on the text and the circumstances in which it was produced.The text has been edited by H.L.A. Hart and J.H. Burns, whose reputations in their respective fields of legal theory and history of political thought are unsurpassed. The volume contains an Editorial Introduction which explains the provenance of the text, and the method of presentation. The texts are fully annotated with textual and historical notes, and the volume is completed with a detailed subject index, based on a methodology devised by Hart.

In the three works contained in this volume, written in 1797-8, Bentham offers a detailed exposition of his plan for the reform of the English poor laws. In 'Pauper Management Improved' and the closely related 'Situation and Relief of the Poor' and 'Outline of a work entitled Pauper Management Improved', Bentham proposes the provision of poor relief in 250 Panopticon Industry Houses, each accommodating 2,000 people, owned and managed by a joint-stock company, the National Charity Company. The dependent poor were to be occupied primarily in the production of their own subsistence, while the Company's viability depended on the indenture until the age of 21 of a rapidly expanding number of children, whose relative productivity would cross-subsidize the provision of relief to the sick and the elderly. Bentham presents his Principles of Management (all intended to unite interest with duty), proposes the provision of Appropriate Establishments for people with disabilities (intended to enhance their productivity, and thereby their life-chances), describes the educational syllabus to be provided to pauper children, and compares the relative strengths and weaknesses of public versus private provision of relief.The volume contains an Editorial Introduction which explains the provenance of the text, and the method of presentation. The texts are fully annotated with textual and historical notes, and the volume is completed with detailed subject and name indices.

Of the Limits of the Penal Branch of Jurisprudence, written in 1780-2, is the continuation of An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, and thus part of the introduction to the projected penal code on which Bentham worked in the late 1770s and early 1780s. The work emerged from Bentham's attempt to distinguish between civil and penal law, which led him into an exposition of the nature and scope of an individual law and an analysis of such key legal terms as power, duty, right, property, contract, and conveyance. Bentham addresses the relationship between different 'aspects' of the legislator's will, such as command, prohibition, and permission, and in so doing develops a 'logic of the will' which anticipates modern deontic logic. He explains that the disposition of the people to obey constitutes the basis of political and legal power, and distinguishes between law addressed to the sovereign and law addressed to the people. Dealing with some of the most fundamental problems in jurisprudence and the theory of human action, Of the Limits of the Penal Branch of Jurisprudence is a work of outstanding originality and seminal importance in the field of legal philosophy.The volume contains an Editorial Introduction which explains the provenance of the text, and the method of presentation. The text is fully annotated with textual and historical notes, and the volume is completed with detailed subject and name indices.This edition of Of the Limits of the Penal Branch of Jurisprudence supersedes Of Laws in General, edited by H.L.A. Hart and published by the Athlone Press in 1970, as a volume in The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham.

Church-of-Englandism and its Catechism Examined, printed in 1817 and published in 1818, was part of Bentham's sustained attack on English political, legal, and ecclesiastical establishments. Bentham argues that the purpose of the Church's system of education, in particular the schools sponsored by the Church-dominated National Society for the Education of the Poor, was to instil habits of insincerity into the population at large, and thereby protect the abuses which were profitable both to the clergy and the ruling classes in general. Bentham recommends the 'euthanasia' of the Church, and argues that government sponsored proposals were in fact intended to propagate the system of abuse rather than reform it. An appendix based on original manuscripts, which deals with the relationship between Church and state, is published here for the first time. This authoritative version of the text is accompanied by an editorial introduction, comprehensive annotation, collations of several extracts published during Bentham's lifetime, and subject and name indexes.

The essays contained in the present volume represent Bentham's attempt to influence the direction of political and constitutional change taking place in Spain and Portugal in the early 1820s. At the same time as commenting on Spanish and Portuguese questions, Bentham outlined important aspects of his own legal and constitutional theories, defended measures of democratic reform, and offered a vigorous defence of free speech and communication. The volume complements Colonies, Commerce, and Constitutional Law, in which Bentham commented on the disastrous effects on Spain of her attempts to retain her overseas possessions.