Benthams Theory of Law and Public Opinion

This collection represents the latest research from leading scholars whose work has helped to frame our understanding of Bentham since the publication of H. L. A. Harts Essays on Bentham. The authors explore fundamental areas of Benthams thought, including the relationship between the rule of law and public opinion; law and popular prejudices or manipulated tastes; Benthams methodology versus Harts; sovereignty and codification; and the language of natural rights. Drawing on original manuscripts and volumes in The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham, the chapters combine philosophical and historical approaches and offer new and more faithful interpretations of Benthams legal philosophy and its development. As a coherent whole, the book challenges the dominant understandings of Bentham among legal philosophers and rescues him from some famous mischaracterizations.