A Comment on the Commentaries and A Fragment on Government
ed. J.H. Burns and H.L.A. Hart (The Athlone Press,
1977), pp. li, 576.
Never finally completed and only first published in 1928, the
A Comment on the Commentaries is a sustained critique of
the most influential interpretation of the English legal system
produced in the eighteenth century, William Blackstone's
Commentaries on the Laws of England. A Fragment on
Government, Bentham's first substantial publication (1776),
was a by-product of this larger enterprise. Here Bentham
advances the principle of utility to attack the contractual
foundations of Blackstone's theory of government and
sovereignty.
Bentham Project
A Comment on the Commentaries and A Fragment on Government
ed. J.H. Burns and H.L.A. Hart (The Athlone Press, 1977), pp. li, 576.
Never finally completed and only first published in 1928, the A Comment on the Commentaries is a sustained critique of the most influential interpretation of the English legal system produced in the eighteenth century, William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England. A Fragment on Government, Bentham's first substantial publication (1776), was a by-product of this larger enterprise. Here Bentham advances the principle of utility to attack the contractual foundations of Blackstone's theory of government and sovereignty.
Re-issued by Oxford University Press November 2008
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