Conditions Requisite for Human Happiness

1st. To have a good organization at birth, and to acquire an accurate knowledge of its organs,
faculties, propensities, and qualities.
2nd. To have the power of procuring at pleasure whatever is necessary to preserve the
organization in the best state of health, and to know the best mode by which to produce and
distribute them.
3rd. To receive from birth the best cultivation of our natural powers—physical, mental, moral,
and practical—and to know how to give this training and education to others.
4th. To have the knowledge, the means, and the inclination, to promote continually, and without
exception, the happiness of our fellow beings.
5th. To have the inclination and means to increase continually our stock of knowledge.
6th. To have the power of enjoying the best society—and more especially of associating, at
pleasure, with those for whom we feel the greatest regard and affection.
7th. To have the means of travelling at pleasure, with pleasure.
8th. To have full liberty to express our thoughts upon all subjects.
9th. To have the utmost individual freedom of action, compatible with the permanent good of
Society.
10th. To have the character formed for us to express the truth only, in look, word, and action,
upon all occasions—to have pure charity for the feelings, thoughts, and conduct of all
mankind—and to have a sincere goodwill for every individual of the human race.
11th. To be without superstition, supernatural fears, and the fear of death.
I2th. To reside in a society well situated, well organized, and well governed, whose laws,
institutions, and arrangements, are all in unison with the laws of human nature; and to know the
best means by which, in practice, to combine all the requisites to form such society.

Universal Constitution and Code of Laws

I. Providing for and Educating the Population

LAW 1. Everyone shall be equally provided, through life, with the best of everything for human
nature, by public arrangements; which arrangements shall be also made to give the best known
direction to the industry and talents of everyone.
LAW 2. All shall be trained and educated, from birth to maturity, in the best manner known at
the time.
LAW 3. All shall pass through the same general routine of education, domestic teaching, and
employment.
LAW 4. All children, from their birth, shall be under the especial care of the Associated Society
or Township in which they are born; but their parents shall have free access to them at all times.
LAW 5. All children in the same Township shall be trained and educated together, as children of
the same family; and shall be early taught a knowledge of their nature—the most important of all
knowledge.
LAW 6. Every individual shall be encouraged to express his feelings and convictions, as he is
compelled by the laws of his nature to receive them; or, in other words, to speak the truth only
upon all occasions.
LAW 7. Both sexes shall have equal education, rights, privileges, and personal liberty; their
marriages will arise from the general sympathies of their nature, well understood, and
uninfluenced by artificial distinctions.

II. Liberty of Mind or Conscience

LAW 8. Everyone shall have equal and full liberty to express the dictates of his conscience on
religious and all other subjects.
LAW 9. No one shall have any other power than fair and friendly argument to control the
opinions or belief of another.
LAW 10. No praise or blame, no merit or demerit, no reward or punishment, shall be awarded
for any opinions or belief.
LAW 11. But all, of every religion, shall have equal right to express their opinions respecting the
Incomprehensible Power which moves the atom and controls the universe; and to worship that
power under any form or in any manner agreeable to their consciences—not interfering with
others.

Source: Owen, Robert. A New View of Society and Other Writings. Claeys, Gregory, ed. Penguin
Books.