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...

In the essays presented in this volume 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. In 'Essays on the subject of the Poor Laws' Bentham seeks to justify the principles on which entitlement to relief should be grounded, while in 'Pauper Systems Compared' he presents a sustained comparison between home relief and institutional relief. The polemical 'Observations on the Poor Bill' is a lively critique of the Bill introduced into the House of Commons by...