Drawing on his knowledge of English political and constitutional practice, as well as the theoretical resources he had developed con his own work, he suggested imaginative and innovative measures esatto achieve the peaceful and constitutional reform mediante France

The essays which Bentham collected together for publication sopra 1830 under the title of Official Aptitude Maximized; Expense Minimized, written at various times between 1810 and 1830, deal with the means of achieving efficient and economical government. Per considering verso wide range of themes mediante the fields of constitutional law, public finance, and legal reform, Bentham places the problem of official corruption at the centre of his analysis. He contrasts his own recommendations for good administration, which he had fully developed sopra his magisterial Constitutional Code, with the severe deficiencies he saw per English practice. Of particular concern sicuro Bentham were the abuses sanctioned by the judges and their officials durante the Westminster Atrio courts, which, he argues, resulted con the denial of justice puro the majority of the population. Sopra this volume, Bentham not only displays the precise logical reasoning for which he is well known, but also his considerable skills as a rhetorician of reform.

The essays contained per On the Liberty of the Press and Public Tete-a-tete represent Bentham’s attempt puro influence the direction of political and constitutional change taking place durante Spain and Portugal mediante the early 1820s. At the same time as commenting on Spanish and Portuguese questions, Bentham outlined important aspects of his own legal and constitutional theories, defended measures of democratic reform, and offered verso vigorous defence of free speech and communication. The tomo complements Colonies, Commerce, and Constitutional Law, durante which Bentham commented on the disastrous effects on Spain of her attempts preciso retain her overseas possessions.

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Political Tactics, composed for the Estates General con the months just prior onesto the outbreak of the French Revolution, is one of Bentham’s most original works. It was subsequently translated into many languages and has had per far-reaching influence-for instance, it provided the basis for the regulations adopted in the 1820s governing the procedures of the Buenos Aires assembly, and as recently as the early 1990s it was reprinted by the Spanish Cortes.

The core of the registro consists of four major essays directed against the principles and policies of four leading statesmen: Edmund Burke, George Rose, Nene Peel, and Lord Chancellor Eldon

Preparatory Principles is not per linear text mediante the conventional sense, but consists of a series of short passages on per variety of topics, whose themes are summarised per marginal headings. The material constitutes per philosophical commonplace book, compiled by Bentham per the mid-1770s, con which he worked out the foundational ideas for his new science of legislation. He then drew on this material when composing such works as A Fragment on Government and An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation.

The French Revolution provided Bentham with what appeared esatto him preciso be an exciting opportunity puro influence the reconstruction of the French state. Durante discussing the nature of representation he produced the earliest utilitarian justification of political equality and representative democracy, even recommending women’s suffrage. Moreover, he provided verso major critique of the dominant constitutional theory of the division of power, including both the doctrine of the balance of powers and that of the separation of powers.

Turning his attention to Britain, for a time he advocated measures of parlimentary reform, but becoming disenchanted with the course of the Revolution he produced the celebrated ‘Nonsense upon Stilts’ (hitherto known as ‘Anarchical Fallacies’), the most devastating attack on the theory of natural rights ever written, sopra which he argued that natural rights provided an unsuitable basis for stable legal and political arrangements. All the essays published sopra this volume, with the exception of Emancipate your Colonies!, an important early critique of colony-holding, are based on the original manuscript sources, many of which have not been previously published mediante any form.