Of Laws in General

ed. H.L.A. Hart (The Athlone Press, 1970), pp. xlii, 342.

Substantially completed in 1782, but only published in definitive form in this edition, Of Laws in General emerged from a definitional problem which Bentham encountered in distinguishing between civil and penal law at the conclusion of An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. In its profound discussion of some of the most fundamental problems in the theory of law and the analysis of human acts, and in its anticipations of modern deontic logic, Of Laws in General is a work of outstanding originality and importance in the field of jurisprudence.