A PROJECT

ON

BENTHAMS UTILITARIAN THEORY

UNDER

JURISPRUDENCE

BY

ANOOP KUMAR
ROLL NO.

11
SUBMITTED TO

MR. A. P. SINGH

DR. RAM MANOHAR LOHIYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

LUCKNOW

Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do. On the one hand the standard of right and wrong, on the other the chain of causes and effects, are fastened to their throne. They govern us in all we do, in all we say, in all we think...
Jeremy Bentham The Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789)

PREFACE The aim of this project is to introduce the reader to the principle of utilitarianism, propounded Jeremy Bentham, the famous English jurist. Apart from the theory of utilitarianism, the doctrine of pleasure and pain propounded by Bentham has also been taken into consideration. Thanks are due to staff at the Dr. RMLNLU library, the faculty of the Criminal Law in Dr. RMLNLU, as well as to a number of colleagues who have directly or indirectly given pointers to how this project should proceed. Thanks

to my parents, who provided me with case materials and his invaluable blessings.

TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ABOUT JEREMY BENTHAM

WORKS OF BENTHAM PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY What is utility Principles Adverse to that of Utility Principle of asceticism. Principle of sympathy and antipathy PLEASURES AND PAINS Several simple pleasures. Several simple pains. CONCLUSION

ABOUT JEREMY BENTHAM Jeremy Bentham ( 1748 to 1832) was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. He was a political radical and a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law. He propounded the theory of utilitarianism and fair treatment of animals. He influenced the development of liberalism. Bentham was one of the most influential utilitarians. His influence spread all around the world, through his and his students. These included his secretary and collaborator on the utilitarian school of philosophy James Mill, James Mill's son John Stuart Mill, and several political leaders. He attributed his theory to Joseph Priestley. He also suggested the procedure called Hedonistic or felicific calculus for estimating the moral status of any action. Utilitarianism was revised and expanded by Bentham's student, John Stuart Mill. He was also the staunch supporter of the individual liberty and right to private property. Austin is called the father of the analytical school but it is

Bentham, who deserves this title. Bentham also advocated for the codification of laws and also advoced for the legislation.

WORKS OF BENTHAM Most of the writing of Bentham were never published in his own lifetime; much of that which was published was prepared for publication by others.Works published in Bentham's lifetime included:

Fragment on Government (1776). This was an unsparing criticism of some introductory passages relating to political theory in William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England.

Introduction to Principles of Morals and Legislation (printed for publication 1780, published 1789)

Defence of Usury (1787) Panopticon (1787, 1791) Emancipate your Colonies (1793) Trait de Lgislation Civile et Penale (1802)

Punishments and Rewards (1811) A Table of the Springs of Action (1815) Parliamentary Reform Catechism (1817) Church-of-Englandism (printed 1817, published 1818) Elements of the Art of Packing (1821) The Influence of Natural Religion upon the Temporal Happiness of Mankind (1822)

Not Paul But Jesus (1823) Book of Fallacies (1824) A Treatise on Judicial Evidence (1825)

The essay Offences Against One's Self, argued for the liberalisation of laws prohibiting homosexuality. It was published for the first time in 1931.

PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY Utility was defined by Bentham as the principle which approves or disapproves of every action whatsoever according to the tendency which it

appears to have to augment or diminish the happiness of the party whose interest is in question. The principle of utility is designed to promote the happiness of the individual or the community. The community can have no interests independent of or aggressive to the interests of the individual. According to Bentham, community interest is sum of the interests of the members who compose it. According to him the business of the government was to promote happiness among the masses, by furthering the enjoyment of pleasure and providing security against the pain. For him it was the greatest happiness of the greatest number of the people, which constituted the principle of utility. A happy society constitutes a happy polity. Public good is the object of the legislator. To know the true good of the community is science of legislation and finding the means to realize that good constitutes the art of legislation. According to his theory, mankind is always under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. They point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do. They govern us in all our actions and thoughts. In words a man may pretend to reject their empire: but in reality he will remain subject to it all the while. The principle of utility recognizes this

subjection, and assumes it for the foundation of that system, the object of which is to nurture the fabric of felicity by the hands of reason and of law. The Benthamite legislator, seeking to ensure happiness for the community must strive to attain four goals of subsistence, abundance, equality, and security citizens. He referred all these goals as the functions of law. The goal of security was paramount and principal one. Next to security, he gave emphasis to the goal of equality. Bentham never questioned the desirability of economic individualism and private property. The law, according to him, can do nothing to provide directly for the subsistence of the citizens. It can impose penalty or give rewards, which indirectly act as the force behind the subsistence of the individual. He did not force for the limitations on state interventions and social reforms. By the principle of utility approves or disapproves of every action whatsoever according to the tendency it appears to have to enhance or diminish the happiness of the party whose interest is in question.

What is utility: By utility is meant that property in any object, whereby it tends to produce benefit, advantage, pleasure, good, or happiness, (all this in the present case

comes to the same thing) or (what comes again to the same thing) to prevent the happening of mischief, pain, evil, or unhappiness to the party whose interest is considered, whether that party is the community in general or a particular individual. The community is a fictitious body, composed of the individual persons who are considered as constituting as it were its members. The interest of the community then is the sum of the interests of the several members who compose it. A thing is said to promote the interest of an individual, when it tends to add to the sum total of his pleasures or, to diminish the sum total of his pains. An action then may be said to be conformable to the principle of utility, when it tends to enlarge the happiness of the community is greater than to diminish it. A measure of government may be said to be conformable to or dictated by the principle of utility, when it tends to augment the happiness of the community than to diminish it. A follower of the principle of utility approves or disapproves any action, or any measure, on account of the tendency it has to augment or to diminish the happiness of the community. Those actions are conformable to the principle of utility, which one may always say either that it is one that ought to be done, or at least that it is not one

that ought not to be done. His works were based on "the greatest happiness of the greatest number principle.

Principles Adverse to that of Utility A principle may be different from that of utility in two ways:
1.

By being constantly opposed to it as in the case of a principle of asceticism.

2.

By being sometimes opposed to it, and sometimes not as in a case of the principle of sympathy and antipathy.

Principle of asceticism. By the principle of asceticism, Bentham meant that principle, which, acting inversely to the principle of utility, approve of actions in as far as they tend to diminish his happiness and disapprove of them in as far as they tend to augment it. This principle has been followed by two classes of men. The one class belongs to philosophers and the other to devotees. The ascetic philosophers have flattered themselves with the idea to rise above humanity, by despising vulgar pleasures. The ascetic devotees are tormented by ineffective terrors. The

devotees have carried the ascetic principle further than the philosophers. The philosophical party have paid a heap to degenerate pleasure but the devotees have frequently gone so far as to make it a matter of merit and of duty to court pain The pleasure was received and applauded when it took the titles of honour, glory, reputation, decorum, or self-esteem. The principle of

asceticism never was, nor ever can be, consistently pursued by any living creature. Principle of sympathy and antipathy. By the principle of sympathy and antipathy, Bentham meant that principle which approves or disapproves of certain actions, not on account of their tending to augment the happiness or on account of their tending to diminish the happiness of the party whose interest is in question. This principle meant the approbation or disapprobation of certain action by a man on ground that a man finds himself inclined to approve or disapprove of them, holding up that approbation or disapprobation as a sufficient reason for itself, and denying the necessity of looking out for any extrinsic ground. The quantum of punishment, based on this principle, dictates to punish less if man hates that action less, more if he hates it more.

The principle of sympathy and antipathy is most apt to err on the side of severity. It is for applying punishment in many cases which deserve none: in many cases which deserve some, it is for applying more than they deserve. There is no incident imaginable, be it ever so trivial, and so remote from mischief, from which this principle may not extract a ground of punishment.

PLEASURES AND PAINS Bentham has referred the pains and pleasures by one general word, interesting perceptions. Interesting perceptions are either simple or complex. The simple ones are those which cannot be resolved into more: complex are those which are resolvable into divers simple ones. A complex interesting perception may accordingly be composed either: 1. Of pleasures alone 2. Of pains alone: or, 3. Of a pleasure or pleasures, and a pain or pains together.

Several simple pleasures. The simple pleasures, according to Bentham, include: 1. The pleasures of sense.

2. The pleasures of wealth. 3. The pleasures of skill. 4. The pleasures of amity. 5. The pleasures of a good name. 6. The pleasures of power. 7. The pleasures of piety. 8. The pleasures of benevolence. 9. The pleasures of malevolence. 10. The pleasures of memory. 11. The pleasures of imagination. 12. The pleasures of expectation. 13. The pleasures dependent on association. 14. The pleasures of relief.

Several simple pains. Several simple pains can be listed as follows: 1. The pains of privation. 2. The pains of the senses. 3. The pains of awkwardness. 4. The pains of enmity.

5. The pains of an ill name. 6. The pains of piety. 7. The pains of benevolence. 8. The pains of malevolence. 9. The pains of the memory. 10. The pains of the imagination. 11. The pains of expectation. 12. The pains dependent on association.

CONCLUSION Bentham's contributed his best in the creation of a "Pannomion", a complete Utilitarian code of law. Bentham not only proposed many legal and social reforms, but also expounded an underlying moral principle on which they should be based. This philosophy, utilitarianism, argued that the right act or policy was that which would cause "the greatest happiness of the greatest number often referred to as the principle of utility. Thogh he supported the state interventions and reforms, he was a staunch supporter of individualism and private property ownerships. Utilitarianism was revised and expanded by Bentham's student, John Stuart Mill. Bentham's theory, unlike Mill's, faces several criticisms.

REFERENCES

URLs.

http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/bentham/morals.pdf http://www.la.utexas.edu/labyrinth/ipml/ipml.c05.html http://www.la.utexas.edu/labyrinth/ipml/ipml.toc.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Bentham#Utilitarianism

Books.

Baxi, Upendra, Benthams Theory of Legislation, 7th ed. (reprint), 2006, Lexis Nexis, New Delhi.

Bodenheimer, Edgar, Jurisprudence- the Philosophy and Method of the Law, 5th ed. (Reprint), 2006, Universal Law Publishing Co., Delhi.