REVIEWS
| Date | 01 May 1972 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1972.tb01337.x |
| Published date | 01 May 1972 |
REVIEWS
Ah’
INTRODUCTION
TO
THE
PRINCIPLES
OF
MORALS
AND
LEGISLATION.
By JEREMY BENTHAM, edited by J.
H.
BURNS and
H.
L.
A.
HART, and
OF
LAWS
IN
GENERAL.
By JEREMY BENTHAM, edited
by
H. L.
A.
HART. [University
of
London, The Athlone Press.
1970.
xliv and
343,
arid
xlii
and
342
pp.
(inc. indices).
!26
each.]
IT
is
well known that Jeremy Bentham’s most important and original eon-
tribution to analytical jurisprudence lay buried for more than
a
century-and-
a-half beneath the mountain
of
papers bequeathed to University College,
London, before being disinterred by the ingencity of Professor Everett of
Columbia University, who subsequently published the work under the title
The hits
of
Jurisprudence Defined
in
1945.
Although high
praise
is due to
Professor Everett
for
his pioneering work, it was obvious that his edition
stood in need of substantial revision, and there could be no happier circum-
stance than the choice of
a
new editor in the person
of
Professor Hart.
As
the most distinguished analytical jurist of our day and a worthy successor
of
Jeremy Bentham himself Professor Hart has brought
to
bear both pains-
taking and loving scholarship
as
well as liis own magisterial command
of
general and legal phbilosophy to produce what must be universally recognised
as the definitive edition of Bentham’s great work.
Yet for all
its
importance both for our understanding of Bentham’s
thought
as
well as for the contribution that it can still make to the jurispru-
dence
of
our
own day, it cannot be denied that
the
book
is
both tough and
indigestible for even the most determined and informed of readers. Partly
this is the result
of
the unfinished character of the work itself, but the
familiar defects of Bentham’s style (though sometimes relieved by pungent
wit and vivid metaphors)
also
provide
a
pretty dense barrier even
for
a
perceptive reader.
As
he approached the conclusion of his
Introduction
to
the
Principles
of
Norals
and Legislation
it had become increasingly apparent
to Bentham that no far-reaching reform of the law, even though based
on
the true principles of the science
of
legislation
as
he conceived it, could be
adequately attained without an understanding of the conceptual framework
of the legal system. This he therefore set
out
to explore in depth in the
present work.
It
was characteristic
of
the originality of his mind that he
chose to build
up
his analytical structure out
of
the seemingly simple
question of the nature of the distinction between civil and penal law. In the
course of serutinising the implications of this distinction Bentham became
persuaded that
it
was necessary to create
a
whole new branch of logic, which
he referred
to
as
the “logic
of
the will.” In this way he anticipated many of
the developments in the field which the modern logician refers to
as
“
deontic
”
logic.
This definitive edition of
Of
Lnws
in General
will finally lay
to
rest any
lingering notion that it
was
Bentham’s disciple, John Austin, who built
up
an
original structure of analytical and conceptual jurisprudence out
of
fragmen-
tary suggestions thrown
off
by the master in the course of his delving into
the science of legislation and the projects of law reform dear to his heart.
As
Professor Hart has himself written of the present work, “had
it
been
published in his lifetime, it, rather than John Austin’s later and obviously
derivative work, would have dominated English jurisprudence.” Yet the
impact even of this new and definitive edition will unquestionably remain
a
good deal less than
it
deserves until
it
has been supplemented by
a
compre-
hensive, explanatory and critical commentary. Professor Hart is uniquely
330
To continue reading
Request your trial