Bentham

BENTHAM, Jeremy, English jurist and publicist: b. London, 15 Feb. 1748; d. London, 6 June 183Z After an early education at West minster School he went to Oxford in his 13th year, taking his bachelor's degree at 15, and his master's degree at 18. He studied English law, but never appeared at the bar, being enabled by easy circumstances to devote himself entirely to literary compositions. He did not, however, publish his chief works himself. They were arranged and translated into French by his friend, Etienne Dumont, and printed partly in Paris and partly in London. Among them are (London 1801, 2 vols.j. Bentham advocated a thorough correction of civil and criminal legislation. His (Fragments on Government,' in opposition to Blackstone, appeared anonymously in 1776, and with his name, London 1823. In France his literary labors found a better reception than in England or Germany. A small pamphlet on the of the press (London 1821) was addressed by him to the Spanish Cortes during their discus sion of this subject; and in another ((Three Tracts Relative to the Spanish and Portuguese Affairs,' London 1821) he refuted the idea of the necessity of a house of peers in Spain, as well as Montesquieu's proposition that judicial forms are the defense of innocence. One of his latest works was the (Art of Packing' (London 1821), that is, of arranging juries so as to obtain any verdict desired. His previous work, (Essay on Parliamentary Practice,' ed ited from the author's papers by Dumont (Geneva 1815), and translated into German, contains many useful observations. His

troduction to the Principles of Morals and Leg islation' (London 1823, 2 vols.) treats of the principal objects of government in a profound and comprehensive manner. Zanobelli has translated Bentham's 'Theory of Legal Evi dence,' into Italian (Bergamo 1824, 2 vols.). Among the earlier works of Bentham was his 'Defense of Usury,' showing the 'Imp°licy of the Present Legal Restraints on the Terms of Pecuniary Bargains' (1787). At his death Mr. Bentham bequeathed his body to be dis sected for the benefit of science. A complete edition of his works, with a biography by Bow ring, was published in London (11 vols., 1843). He was a man of primitive manners, unblem ished character and undoubted earnestness in the cause of the people at large. He is consid ered the father of the Utilitarians, or those moral political economists who view everything as it is affected by the principle of "the greatest happiness of the greatest number? Consult Albce, 'History of English Utilitarianism' (London 1902) ; Atkinson, C. M., 'Jeremy Ben tham: His Life and Work' (London 1905; 2d ed., 1909) ; Graham, W., 'English Political Philosophy from Hobbes to Maine' cib., 1899); Kent, C. B. R., 'The English Radicals) (ib., 1899) ; Mill, J. S., "Bentham,' in London and Westminster Review (August 1838) ; Stephen, L., 'English Utilitarians) (London and New Yoric 1900).