BENTHAM, JEREMY ( 1743-1832). An Eng lish jurist and philosopher. He was the son of a wealthy solicitor in London; received his early education at Westminster School ; and when yet a boy, being little more than 12 years of age, went to Queen's College, Oxford, where he took his bachelor's degree in 1763, and his master's degree in 1766. Before entering it, he had al ready,by his precocious tendencies to speculation, acquired the title of 'the philosopher.' In 1763 his father, who expected his son to becomeLord Chan cellor, sent him to the study of the law at Lin coln's Inn; but soon afterwards he went back to Oxford, attracted by the fame of Blackstone's (q.v.) lectures. In 1767 he left Oxford to bogin a legal career, but, much to the disappointment of his father, he had no relish for it, and took no pains to succeed in it. He studied chemistry and physics when he was expected to be working up cases. Turning from the practice of law to its theory, he became the greatest critic of legislation and government in his day. In 1776 he published A Fragment on Government, which was an acute eriticism of some views contained in Blackstone's Commentaries. The Fragment abounds in fine, original, and just observation; it contains the germs of most of his after writ ings. It procured him the acquaintance of Lord Shelburne, in whose society at Bowood he after wards passed perhaps the most agreeable hours of his life. It was in the Bowood society that he conceived an attachment for Miss Caroline Fox (Lord Holland's sister), to whom, years later, he offered his heart and hand, only to be rejected 'with all respect.' In 1778 he published View of the hard Labor Bill, recommending an improvement in the mode of criminal punish ment. His views ou this subject were more fully expressed in a work written about this time. but not published in English till 1825, the Rationale of Punishment and Rewards. Bentham did more than any other writer of his time to rationalize the theory of punishments by consideration of their various kinds and effects, their true ob jects, and the conditions of their efficacy. He published in 1789 Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation: in 1791, The Panopti con, or the Inspection House; Manual of Politi cal Economy was written in 179:3; Poor Laws and Pauper Management was published in 1797; Introductory Views of the Rationale of Evidence was printed in part in 1S12. The Rationale of
Judicial Evidence (edited by J. S. Mill, London, 1827) was another and a fuller presentation of the same subject. works of various dates bear upon the subject of codification of the laws. His Constitutional Code, one of his most impor tant works, was published in full in 1841, under the editorial supervision of R. Doane. The sub ject of logic also interested Bentham, and he wrote a treatise on it. Drontology, or the Sci ence of Morality, was edited and published by Bowring in 1834. His works were collected and edited by Bowring, and published with life and correspondence in II volumes (Edinburgh, 1843). A great mass of unpublished manuscript from Bentham's pen is to be found in the library of University College, London. Much of what came to light in Bentham's lifetime was edited by his friends, and some of it ap peared first in French under the supervision of Dumont. Bentham had a habit of writing on various subjects at the same time; the result was an aggregation of manuscripts that required sifting, and he was fortunate in finding men of ability like Dumont to undertake this work. In his early works Bentham's style was clear, free, spirited, and often eloquent; but in his later works it became difficult, through being over loaded and darkened with technical terms. In regard to these latter works more especially M. Dumont has most materially served his master by arranging and translating them into French, through the medium of which language Ben tham's doctrines were propagated throughout Europe, till they became more popular abroad than at home. James Mill, himself an inde pendent thinker, did much in his writings to extend the application in new directions of Ben tham's principles, a work in which, apart from his original efforts, he has achieved a lasting monument of his own subtlety and vigor of mind. But the most valuable contribution in English to Bentham's reputation is perhaps Benthumi an•, by John Hill Burton (Edinburgh, 1843), containing a memoir, selections of the leading and important passages from his various writ ings, and an appendix embracing an essay on his system and a brief, clear view of all his leading doctrines.