Page 157 - DPOL201_WESTERN_POLITICAL_THOUGHT_ENGLISH

Unit 9: Jeremy Bentham

From the early 1770s, the study of legislation became Bentham’s most important preoccupation. Notes
He did not practise law, but concentrated on writing about what the law should be, rather than
what it was. The period from the early 1770s to the mid-1780s was of great significance in the
development of Bentham’s ideas. During this time he devoted his energies to understanding the
rational basis of law, both in England and other countries. In his earliest project, called “Preparatory
Principles”, he set upon himself the task of making a set of new and systematic legal terms which
could be used for studying the theory and practice of law. His manuscripts consisted of definitions
and analyses of basic terms and concepts in jurisprudence.
In the mid-1770s, at 28 years of age, Bentham wrote a lengthy critique of William Blackstone’s (1723-
1780) Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765-1769). A portion of this critique was published in
1776 as A Fragment on Government, arousing the interest of the Earl of Shelbourne, a Whig aristocrat.
Impressed by Bentham’s work, the earl invited him to stay in his country house at Bowood, Wilshire.
This was the beginning of a close relationship, based on common ideas and purpose.
Interestingly, A Fragment on Government was first published anonymously, encouraging considerable
speculation about its authorship. Its sales plummeted when the author’s name was accidentally
revealed. Coincidentally, 1776 was the year of publication of Smith’s well-known book. The Wealth
of Nations, the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the American colonies, and the
announcement of Major Carthwright’s charter for universal suffrage and annual parliaments. It
was noteworthy that the Declaration referred to the “pursuit of happiness”, motivating Bentham
to discover the laws governing human action.
During his close association with the Earl of Shelbourne, Bentham got attracted to Lady Shelbourne’s
niece, Caroline Fox. This was his second love, the first being Mary Dunkley. However, neither of
the relationships culminated in marriage and Bentham remained a bachelor. Bentham showered
all his affections on his brother Samuel, nine years younger to him. He took a keen interest in his
education and career, without being overbearing. He encouraged Samuel to visit Russia. He
subsequently decided to visit Russia in 1780, and that visit proved to be a turning point in Bentham’s
life, for he began to take greater interest in legislation and reforms.
Bentham began to devote his time and energies to practical areas like public administration,
economics and social policy, apart from concentrating on developing a theory of law and legislation.
One reason for this shift was because of his involvement with Samuel’s industrial concerns, devising
details on the construction of a prison (or factory or workhouse) in a circular way, enabling the
supervisor to monitor the place continuously. This came to be known as the Panopticon, or the
inspection house.
Bentham viewed the Panopticon, derived from the Greek word meaning all seeing, as the capstone
of Utilitarianism, for it would scientifically mete out felicific calculus by measuring pain justly.
Having written a dissertation on punishments, in which he developed and systematized Beccaria’s
ideas, he was convinced that pain could be scientifically administered by experts. He devoted
most of his time to devising the scheme, planning meticulously right down to the governor’s
urinal. He hoped to be appointed the first governor of the panopticon, and was confident that it
would give him £37,000 a year. Like his brother, he believed unflinchingly in contraptions. “[M]orals
reformed, health preserved, industry invigorated, instruction diffused, public burthens lightened,
economy seated as it were upon a rock, the gordian knot of the poor laws not cut but untied, all
by a simple idea in architecture” (Bentham cited in Semple 1992: 153).
In 1791, Bentham sent his plan to English Prime Minister Pitt, but the Panopticon never really
materialized, forcing him to admit defeat 20 years later. A jail was built, but not on the design that
Bentham recommended. Bentham was awarded compensation for his sincerity and effort, which
did not cheer him. He confessed in his old age to John Bowring, the editor of the Westminster
Review and his literary executor, that he did not like looking into panopticon papers, for it was like
entering a haunted house.

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