An Introduction To The Principles Of Morals And Legislation - Softcover

Jeremy Bentham

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0371600049 ISBN 13: 9780371600047

Publisher: HardPress, 1822

Synopsis

An Introduction To The Principles Of Morals And Legislation by Jeremy Bentham presents a utilitarian framework for law. Bentham argues that the end of law is to increase happiness by preventing mischief, while acknowledging that punishment itself is an evil that should be admitted only to avert greater harms. The work surveys the ends of punishment and then delineates when punishment is groundless, inefficacious, unprofitable, or needless. It develops a comprehensive theory of proportion between punishments and offences, offering rules that scale punishment with the profit and mischief of the offence, consider certainty and proximity, and account for factors like habit and public sentiment. It then outlines ten properties for punishments: variability, equability, commensurability, exemplarity, frugality, subserviency to reformation, to disablement, to compensation, popularity, and remissibility. The text classifies offences into private, semi-public, self-regarding, public, and multiform types (including offences against person, property, reputation, and conditions), and closes with a discussion of the limits between private ethics and the art of legislation, emphasizing education and prudent moral incentives, including religion where appropriate.

Edition details

• Publisher: HardPress
• Publication date: 1822
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0371600049
• ISBN 13: 9780371600047
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304