Jeremy Bentham

Life and ideas

Jeremy Bentham was an English philosopher and reformer who trained as a lawyer but never practised, preferring to criticise the law. He proposed that the right test of any law or institution is its utility, its tendency to increase the happiness of the people affected, which he thought could be measured. He mocked the idea of natural rights as 'nonsense on stilts', and insisted on separating what the law is from what it ought to be, which became the heart of legal positivism. He campaigned for codification in plain language, for reform of the courts, prisons (his Panopticon design) and the vote. His preserved body, which he left to be displayed, can still be seen at University College London, founded by his friends and followers. His ideas inspired reform movements across Europe and Latin America.