According to Sunstein (2005) Jeremy Bentham was an English utilitarian philosopher and social

reformer. He first attained attention as a critic of the leading legal theorist in eighteenth century
England, Sir William Blackstone. Bentham's campaign for social and political reforms in all
areas, most notably the criminal law, had its theoretical basis in his utilitarianism, expounded in
his Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, a work written in 1780 but not
published until 1789.The Oxford Canadian Dictionary of Current English (2005) defines ethics
as, “moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour,” and morals as, “principles of right and
wrong behaviour” and is “concerned with, based on, or adhering to a coded behaviour that is
considered right or acceptable in a particular society rather than legal rights and duties”. We
think it is helpful to consider the root word from which “ethics” is derived: “ethos”. In ancient
days, this once described the atmosphere within a cave; an atmosphere that was quite stable
(didn’t change much). So it is with stability of ethical principle No issue has captured the interest
and imagination of the American public more than the subject of ethics, particularly in relation to
leadership in the public sector” One of the most universal questions in educational leadership is
“What is the relationship of ethics as it relates to educational leadership?” The answer can be
very complex. Many authors who have written on the subject of ethics in educational leadership
have tried to answer this question. All major branches of ethics must be considered when
attempting to answer this question.

Hugo, A.(1983) argued that one of the key ideas of Bentham's ambition in life was to create a
"Pannomion", a complete utilitarian code of law. He not only proposed many legal and social
reforms, but also expounded an underlying moral principle on which they should be based. This
philosophy of utilitarianism took for its "fundamental axiom", it is the greatest happiness of the
greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong". Bentham claimed to have borrowed this
concept from the writings of Joseph Priestley, although the closest that Priestley in fact came to
expressing it was in the form "the good and happiness of the members, that is the majority of the
members of any state, is the great standard by which every thing relating to that state must finally
be determined".The "greatest happiness principle", or the principle of utility, forms the
cornerstone of all Bentham's thought. By "happiness", he understood a predominance of
"pleasure" over "pain". He wrote in The Principles of Morals and Legislation. The importance of
this utilitarianism to ethical educational leadership can be noticed if for example when a school
head (leader) slash school fees so that education can be accessible to everyone pupil and this will
inturn make greatest happiness to the society (utilitarianism). It is a relatively simple ethical
system to apply. To determine whether an action is moral you merely have to calculate the good
and bad consequences that will result from a particular action. If the good outweighs the bad,
then the action is moral. If the above information is to be considered as truth then Bentham idea
(utilitarianism) has relevance to ethical educational leadership.

Benthall (2007) noted that in Bentham's theory, an action conforming to the principle of utility is
right or at least not wrong; it ought to be done, or at least it is not the case that it ought not be
done. But Bentham does not use the word 'duty' here. For Bentham, rights and duties are legal
notions, linked with the notions of command and sanction. What we call moral duties and rights
would require a moral legislator (a divine being presumably) but theological notions are outside
the scope of his theory. To talk of natural rights and duties suggests, as it were, a law without a
legislator, and is nonsensical in the same way as talk of a son without a parent. Apart from
theoretical considerations, Bentham also condemned the belief in natural rights on the grounds
that it inspired violence and bloodshed, as seen in the excesses of the French Revolution. Leaders
make decisions every day that impact the lives of others, making the act of leadership a moral
issue. Foster(1986) explained that, “Each administrative decision carries with it a restructuring of
human life: that is why administration at its heart is a resolution of moral dilemmas”.
utilitarianism avoids the need to appeal to divine revelation. Many adherents to this ethical
system are looking for a way to live a moral life apart from the Bible and a belief in God. The
system replaces revelation with reason. Logic rather than an adherence to biblical principles
guides the ethical decision-making of a utilitarian.

Another Bentham's key idea ,was his opinions about monetary economics which were
completely different from those of David Ricardo; however, they had some similarities to those
of Henry Thornton. Harrison(1995).reported that he focused on monetary expansion as a means
of helping to create full employment. He was also aware of the relevance of forced saving,
propensity to consume, the saving-investment relationship, and other matters that form the
content of modern income and employment analysis. His monetary view was close to the
fundamental concepts employed in his model of utilitarian decision making. His work is
considered to be an early precursor of modern welfare economics. His second idea has relevance
to ethical educational leadership because Bentham stated that pleasures and pains can be ranked
according to their value or "dimension" such as intensity, duration, certainty of a pleasure or a
pain. He was concerned with maxima and minima of pleasures and pains; and they set a
precedent for the future employment of the maximisation principle in the economics of the
consumer, the firm and the search for an optimum in welfare economics. The Ethics of
Educational Leadership provides a basis for the developmentation of many ethical principles
while also focusing on the work of important philosophers, their methodology, and their method
of analysis. According to Bentham escheats (a kind tax) in estates which lack near relatives,
taxes on bankers and stockbrokers. Above all, he said the proper aim of legislation should be
promote the happiness at the greatest number, thus he made place for general “interest”, This
idea is relevant to ethical educational leadership because most people already use a form of
utilitarianism in their daily decisions. We make lots of non-moral decisions every day based
upon consequences. At the checkout line, we try to find the shortest line so we can get out the
door more quickly. We make most of our financial decisions (writing checks, buying
merchandise, etc.) on a utilitarian calculus of cost and benefits. So making moral decisions using
utilitarianism seems like a natural extension of our daily decision-making procedures.If one
believes leadership is being able to create employment and also subordinates welfare is taken
care of then ethics in leadership will be practiced therefore Bentham ideas has relevance to
ethical educational leadership. (Bentham ;1978).

Furthermore according to Burns, (2005), law reform is another key idea of Bentham and he was
the first person to aggressively advocate for the codification of all of the common law into a
coherent set of statutes; he was actually the person who coined the verb "to codify" to refer to the
process of drafting a legal code. He lobbied hard for the formation of codification commissions
in both England and the United States, and went so far as to write to President James Madison in
1811 to volunteer to write a complete legal code for the young country. After he learned more
about American law and realized that most of it was state-based, he promptly wrote to the
governors of every single state with the same offer. Charlottesville(2008) reported that this does
not have relevance to ethics of educational leadership because during his lifetime, Bentham's
codification efforts were completely unsuccessful. Even today, they have been completely
rejected by almost every common law jurisdiction, including England. However, his writings on
the subject laid the foundation for the moderately successful codification work of David Dudley
Field II in the United States a generation later. This is usually because it’s very rare for leaders to
reform so that they will loose their authority and power in the pretext of making the society
happy (theoretical basis in his utilitarianism)

Moreover another idea of Bentham covered gender and sexuality which he said that it was the
placing of women in a legally inferior position that made him choose, at the age of eleven, the
career of a reformist. Bentham spoke for a complete equality between sexes.Bentham thought
women inferior to men regarding such qualities as "strength of intellectual powers" and
"firmness of mind". Hart.(1977) argued that the essay Offences Against One's Self,argued for the
liberalisation of laws prohibiting homosexual sex.The essay remained unpublished during his
lifetime for fear of offending public morality. It was published for the first time in 1931.Bentham
does not believe homosexual acts to be unnatural, describing them merely as "irregularities of the
venereal appetite". The essay chastises the society of the time for making a disproportionate
response to what Bentham appears to consider a largely private offence – public displays or
forced acts being dealt with rightly by other laws. If the above information is to be considered as
truth then the relevance of this idea to ethical educational leadership because positions at
workplace or in society should not be based on gender and people ought to diversify so as to
accommodate everyone regardless of one’s sexual orientation

Is it correct to argue that Bentham’s principle is to be differentially interpreted as having

sometimes a ‘parochial’ and sometimes a ‘universalist’ bearing? These issues are reopened here
with particular reference to textual evidence overlooked in earlier discussions and contextual
evidence on the development of Bentham’s radicalism in the last two decades of his life. In
conclusion some broader issues are raised concerning the character of Bentham’s understanding
of ‘happiness’ itself.
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Francione, G(2005). Animals – Property or Persons", in Sunstein and Nussbaum Stanford:

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