Bentham's central concern during the 1810s and 1820s was with the codification of the law. The materials presented in this volume constitute not only the basis for a biography of Bentham during these years, but also an important and illuminating account of his mature legal and political theory.

A critical edition of three works of Bentham, Deontology and The Article on Utilitarianism were previously unpublished. Together with An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, they provide a comrehensive exposition of Bentham's views. Based entirely on manuscripts by Bentham of his amanuenses, this edition's full introduction linking the three works. Each work is supplemented with detailed and critical notes.

This is a major theoretical analysis of the harmful effects of colonies on commerce and constitutional democracy, and is one of the most important studies of colonialism written in the nineteenth century. In these essays, Bentham provided a penetrating critique of colonialism from within the liberal utilitarian tradition.

Charting Jeremy Bentham's developing career from 1802 to 1808, this collection of letters (most never published before) touches on his legal writings, Panopticon penitentiary project, and exchanges with Sir Samuel Robilly, Francis Horner, and others.

Much of Bentham's correspondence of this period is about his Panopticon penitentiary scheme. The letters give insight into Bentham's relations with editors, followers, legal and political colleagues, and his conversion to political radicalism.

This latest volume in the definitive edition of Bentham's writings contains mostly unpublished letters and reveals Bentham's attempts to influence developments in France, the US, Greece, Spain, Portugal, and South America. Despite Bentham's importance as jurist, philosopher, and social scientist, and leader of the Utilitarian reformers, there has never been a complete edition of his works. This new critical edition of works and correspondence is being prepared by the Bentham Committee of University College, London. Containing many letters previously unpublished, this collection will prove...

This is a collection of Bentham's essays, dating mainly from late 1822 and early 1823, concerning his attempts to draw up legislation for one Islamic state, and offer advice to another in the process of throwing off Islamic rule. The writings for Tripoli include the famous "Securities Against Misrule," as well as discussion of the social, political, and religious institutions of the country. 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." Both groups of...

This volume collects four essays--"Economy as Applied to Office," "Identification of Interests," "Supreme Operative," and "Constitutional Code Rationale"--dating from the spring and summer of 1822. Based exclusively on manuscripts, many of which have never been published, the essays represent an important application of utilitarian principles to the structure and organization of government and are a major contribution to the theory of representative democracy.

This volume makes available one of the central texts in the development of utilitarian tradition, in the authoritative 1977 edition prepared by Professors Burns and Hart as part of Bentham's Collected Works. Certain that history was on his side, Bentham sought to rid the world of the hideous mess wrought by legal obfuscation and confusion, and to transform politics into a rational, scientific activity, premised on the fundamental axiom that "it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong."

Jeremy Bentham's work on The Principles of Morals and Legislation emerges from its historic roots in hedonism and teleology as a scientific attempt to assess the moral content of human action by focusing on its results or consequences. Proceeding from the assumption that human beings desire pleasure (and avoid pain), Bentham's unique perspective, known as utilitarianism, is used to construct a fascinating calculus for determining which action to perform when confronted with situations requiring moral decision-makingthe goal of which is to arrive at the -greatest happiness of the greatest...