S.S.

JAIN SUBODH LAW COLLEGE

YEAR 2018-19

Bentham’s theory of utility

Submission To: Submitted By:

Mr. Nakul Sharma YASHVARDHAN TOLANI

ASISTANT PROFESSOR Semester 5- B

Roll no. - 60
 CETIFICATE

This is to Certify that Mr. Yashvardhan tolani, student of B.A.LL.B. 5th Sem. of S.S.
Jain Subodh Law College, Mansarovar, Jaipur has completed his project on
“bentham’s theory of utility” under the guidance of Mr. Nakul Sharma, Faculty
of Jurisprudence at S.S. Jain Subodh Law College.

This project is an original, independent work to the best of my knowledge and has
not been published anywhere and has been pursued solely for academic interest.

(Mr. Nakul Sharma)

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I take this opportunity to express our humble gratitude and personal regards to
Mr. Nakul sharma for inspiring me and guiding me during the course of this
project work and also for her cooperation and guidance from time to time during
the course of this project work on the topic.

Jaipur

19th November, 2018 (YashvardhanTolani)

 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Aims and Objectives:

The aim of the project is to present a detailed study of the topic “bentham’s
theory of utility” forming a concrete informative capsule of the same with an
insight into its relevance in the Indian legal system.

Research Plan
The researchers have followed Doctrinal method.

Scope and Limitations:

In this project the researcher has tried to include different aspects pertaining to the
concept of Jurisprudence, Its origin and development in India.

Sources of Data:
The following secondary sources of data have been used in the project-

 Websites
 Books
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 tributed 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. He also advocated for
codification of laws and legislation.

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, painAnd 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 utilityRecognizes 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 interests is considered, whether that party is the community in general or a
particular individual. The community is a fictitiousBody,Composed of the individual persons
who are considered as constituting as it were itsMembers.The interest of the community then is
the sum of the interests of the several members who composeit.

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 it is one that ought to be done or at least it is not onethat 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
sympathyandantipathy.
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.

Principle of sympathy and antipathy

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.

2The 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. Though 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.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

WEBSITES

•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, Bentham’s Theory of Legislation, 7Th Ed. (reprint), 2006, LexisNexis, New
Delhi.

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