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INTRODUCTION

Jurisprudence is the study or philosophy of law. Various Jurisprudence thinkers and scholars have
tried to explain it in the general form for the more profound understanding of the lawmaking
process. Modern-day jurisprudence started in the eighteenth century and was centred on the
primary standards of natural law, civil law, and the law of nations.

MEANING OF JURISPRUDENCE

The term ‘jurisprudence’ is derived from the Latin word ‘jurisprudentia’, which means the
knowledge of the law. If the word jurisprudentia is dissected into Juris and prudentia, Juris means
law and prudentia means skill. There is no such definite definition of jurisprudence. However,
various jurists have defined the term jurisprudence. Jeremy Bentham is considered the Father of
Jurisprudence. According to him, jurisprudence is a set of philosophical principles and various
interpreted theories. This eventually shows us the concept of law. According to Austin, the
appropriate subject for jurisprudence is the existing laws or the positive law. He was the first
philosopher and jurist who considered jurisprudence as a science. Keeton has defined
jurisprudence as the study and systematic arrangements of the general principles of law.

General jurisprudence can be separated into classifications both by the sort of inquiry researchers
look to reply and by the hypothesis of jurisprudence, or schools of thought, in regards to how those
inquiries are best replied. Contemporary rationality of law, which manages general jurisprudence
mainly delivers issues under the law and legitimate frameworks and it also with issues of law as a
social establishment that identifies with the more significant political and social setting in which
it exists.

Bentham is known as Father of Jurisprudence. Austin took his work further.

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SCHOOLS OF JURISPRUDENCE

Jurisprudence is the hypothesis and investigation of law. It considers the cause and idea of law.
Law has an unpredictable idea. Its comprehension differs from individuals to individuals.
Everybody has an alternate perception of the law. The article discusses the five schools of
Jurisprudence viz.

 Comparative School
 Historical School
 Realist School
 Sociological School
 Analytical School

ANALYTICAL SCHOOL

Analytical school is otherwise called the Austinian school since this methodology is set up by John
Austin. It is likewise called as an imperative school since it regards law as the direction of the
sovereign. Dias terms this methodology as “Positivism” as the topic of the school is certain law.
The analytical school picked up unmistakable quality in the nineteenth century. His methodology
was mainstream, positivistic and exact. Truth be told, it was Austin who propounded the theory of
positive law, the establishment of which was laid by Bentham.

Jeremy Bentham can be said to be the author of the Analytical school. In one of his books, he
dismissed the principles of natural law and expounded the rule of utility with logical accuracy. He
isolated jurisprudence into explanatory and censorial. The previous arrangements with the law all
things considered while the last arrangements with the law as it should be. Jeremy Bentham (1748-
1832) was a utilitarian, an anarchist, and a British philosopher. He is best known for his work on
utilitarianism, which explains how one should act to achieve the greatest happiness for the most
significant number. He was inclined to the classical school of thought in criminology, and his
influencers included Francis Bacon and John Locke, who were empiricists. He studied Latin at the
age of four years. By age sixteen, he was a writer and had a printer's apprentice but soon became
enamored with philosophy and gradually developed an interest in politics. His brother had just
become a member of parliament, making him eligible for entry into that realm.
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JEREMY BENTHAM

Bentham advocated for the Analytical School of Jurisprudence, where sovereignty and command
played central roles. He recognised the contrast between what society desired and what was
logically necessary. Bentham also acknowledged the concept of divided and partial sovereignty
while discussing the legal limitations that sovereign authorities might encounter. Unlike Austin,
Bentham’s theory placed less emphasis on sanctions. He believed that a sovereign’s decree would
constitute a law, even if supported solely by religious or moral consequences. Bentham’s
perspective also acknowledged the use of attractive incentives and the idea of rewards in his theory.

Bentham’s examination of censorial jurisprudence is demonstrative of the way that the effect of
natural law had not totally vanished that is the reason he discussed utility as the overseeing rule.
Maybe, as a result of this reason, Bentham isn’t usually known as the father of analytical school.
He, in any case, trusts that law is a result of state and sovereign. Bentham’s idea of law is an
imperative one for which he alluded the expression “command.”

Bentham, a prominent English philosopher, defined law as a collection of signs indicating the will
of the sovereign in a state regarding the conduct to be followed by a particular person or group of
people subject to the sovereign’s power. He also supported the concept of laissez-faire, which
advocates for minimal State intervention in individuals’ economic activities.

Bentham appears to be the founder of this approach. He was a firm supporter of Lassez’s fair
principle of economy. He wrote a book, “Limits of Jurisprudence defined” which was published
in 1945. He was against Judge made law; according to him, the law should be made only by the
legislature. He was an individualist. He said that the function of law is to emancipate the individual
from the bondage and restraint upon his freedom. The purpose of the law is to bring pleasure and
avoid pain. His legal philosophy is called “Utilitarian individualism”.

According to Bentham the main functions of legislation are as follows :

 To provide subsistence
 To encourage equality
 To maintain security
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BENTHAM ‘S PRINCIPLES OF UTILITARIANISM

Bentham ‘legal philosophy is called utilitarian individualism, He was an individualist, He said

that the function of law is to emancipate individual from the bondage and restraint upon his
freedom he supported the economic principle of “Laissez-faire”. which meant minimum
interference of the State in the economic activities of individuals Bentham propounded the
principle of utilitarianism. According to this theory, that the main object of legislation is the
carrying out of the principle of utility, in other words the proper end of every law is the promotion
of the greatest happiness of the greatest number. Bentham defined utility as the property or
tendency of a thing to prevent some evil or procure some good, According to him, the
consequences of good and evil are respectively pleasure and pain. Utilitarianism is a branch of
ethics that studies the question of how to maximize the pleasure or utility of the majority. It is also
called hedonistic calculus, which highlights that the amount of pleasure or satisfaction an
individual receives from an action is directly proportional to the amount of pain or pain someone
else suffers due to that action.

Jeremy Bentham created this theory in 1781, and it has since been applied in various settings, from
law to international humanitarian aid. His theory's starting point assumes that all people are the
same and can perceive and respond to pleasure and pain. This capacity, which underpins human
behavior, is known as ''sensory appetites.''

Pleasure and pain are sensations, but they are more than that. They are also about the capacity to
make choices motivated by the awareness of these sensations. The capacity to choose between
different options makes people different from animals, and the basis for their difference is found
in the neural network that comprises the brain and its associated senses. The capacity for pleasure
or pain, in turn, is based on the complex neural network that includes the brain and its associated
senses.

Bentham's theory of utilitarianism emphasizes the importance of context. Human behavior is

shaped by the same passions and desires that govern animals, and one of the essential functions of
philosophy is to discover the mental mechanisms that underlie human actions. However, even
though humans are naturally predisposed to enjoy the sensation, the state of existence of the
majority of people is always the priority for utilitarian. Bentham, who created utilitarianism,
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observes that the most basic function of government is to provide for the common good. All other
government activities are subsidiary, and their priorities should reflect the common good. Hence,
the common good is always the priority for humans. The direct application of the Utilitarian
principle that is easily understood and accepted by all is the focus on happiness for the majority.

Bentham proposed the principle of utilitarianism, which states that legislation’s appropriate aim is
to promote the greatest amount of utility. He defined utility as the capacity of a thing to prevent
evil or promote good. Bentham argued that the consequences of an action were either pleasure or
pain.

Bentham forwarded the principle of utility which formed part of the family of consequentialist
ethical theories, which evaluated the actions of an individual on the basis of its consequences.
Bentham was avant-garde in focusing on the consequences of the behavior instead of on the intent
behind the behavior. He considered intentions to be irrelevant and believed that good actions would
result in good consequences. He proposed that the most important consideration should be the
pleasure and pain quality arising from the consequences of our actions. Simply put, an action can
be characterized as good if it results in pleasure and bad if it results in pain. The principle of Utility
is an action that is commended or condemned according to whether it produces benefit, advantage,
pleasure, good or happiness or prevents mischief, pain or unhappiness.

However, the principle of utility is different from egoism which endorses pleasure of oneself.
Utilitarianism provides that one should pursue pleasure not just for us but for as many sentient
beings as possible. Bentham stated that “We should act always so as to produce the greatest good
for the greatest number”. A utilitarian would therefore sacrifice their pleasure for the pleasure of
the group.

Therefore, utilitarianism is an ethical theory that centers on happiness, not just the happiness of
one person, but happiness of many people. Thus, the greatest happiness principle is synonymous
with the principle of utility. The principle of greatest happiness states that a person should do
things that will have the most happiness for all involved persons.

Critics of utilitarian ethics argue that because utilitarianism emphasizes on results, utilitarian
theorists should agree that the theory of ethical relativism solves the problem of relativism. These
critics claim that since utilitarian theorists argue that morality of an action depends on what the
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product of the action will take to all affected persons, then almost every action is moral. That is to
say, utilitarianism is a consequentialist ethic and thus, we cannot know whether an action is
immoral until we see its bad consequences.

Given that, utilitarian ethics in some ways holds morality of an action hostage to the result,
morality of the action appears relative. However, we refute ethical relativism since utilitarian ethics
is a type of universalism, given its grounds in trust in universal human nature. Utilitarian theorists
say that all people have altruistic and egoistic elements, and all people seek to evade pain and
augment pleasure. Then, instead of ethical relativism, they support a liberal ethics that
acknowledges there are universal principles and values.

Utility is the foundation of Jeremy Bentham's ethical and political philosophy, utilitarianism. The
utilitarian principle, according to Bentham, is the maximization of happiness or pleasure and the
minimizing of pain or suffering for the greatest number of persons affected by a specific action or
policy. Bentham believed that the utility principle could be used to guide moral decision-making.
He argued that moral rules and principles should be based on their ability to promote happiness
and reduce suffering. For example, he believed that prohibitions against theft and murder are
justified because they protect individuals' property and physical safety, which are important for
promoting happiness. The realms of public policy and governance are also included in Bentham's
utility-based philosophy. He was of the opinion that institutions and laws ought to be created to be
as useful to society as possible. This includes advancing equal rights, making sure that resources
are distributed fairly, and establishing circumstances that make the majority of people as happy as
possible. It is significant to notice that Bentham's utilitarianism places a strong emphasis on
quantifying and combining pleasure and suffering.

Despite the fact that Bentham's utility theory had a significant impact, later philosophers and
intellectuals created many utilitarian ideologies that incorporated criticisms and additional factors.
However, Bentham also recognized that there may be conflicts between individual and societal
happiness. In these cases, he argued that individuals should be willing to sacrifice their individual
happiness for the greater good of society.

Bentham believed Utilitarianism was a descriptive and normative philosophy. It characterized and
promoted human behaviour that maximizes pleasure and minimizes misery. According to the
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utility principle, the motivation behind all human conduct is the desire for pleasure. It is also known
as the maximum happiness principle or the felicity principle.

The joy of sense, riches, skill, power, benevolence, and malice was among the fourteen categories
of simple pleasures Bentham enumerated in The Principle. There are twelve types of pain that
people try to avoid, such as aches of the senses or a bad reputation. Reducing pain also implies
increasing pleasure. Individuals not only engage in this way, but they also label the actions that
make them feel good or unpleasant using evaluative adjectives like good and negative. Now, this
is a job that dates back to Hobbes. Bentham's assertion that Utilitarianism is a moral theory is
novel, as is his support for such conduct. What makes us happy is good; what makes us unhappy
is bad and should be avoided. Individuals can only advance human welfare if they enhance pleasure
and avoid pain.

Bentham argues that Utilitarianism does not advocate pursuing one's own pleasure in response to
the accusation that it is actually a theory of selfish psychological hedonism rather than a doctrine
of morality. The circle of people an action will affect depends on its circumstances. Thus,
Utilitarianism is a moral theory because the individual is required to consider the happiness of
people other than himself, while the government is concerned with the welfare of all of its citizens.

According to Bentham, human pleasure is based on the contributions that men make to one
another. By establishing a set of rights and obligations, the government may guarantee these
services. This is how Bentham made the shift from his Utilitarianism to his political philosophy:
government is required to compel people to provide services to one another in order to maximize
their pleasure. In essence, Utilitarianism is a British school of political thought. A group of writers,
politicians, administrators, and social reformers made up this organization. James Mill, John Stuart
Mill, and Jeremy Bentham are the three most well-known members of the group. Their main
theoretical focus was developing a set of political regulations that would result in a science of
politics.

In actuality, they emphasised the dire need for social and legal reform. It also supports the
development of effective political institutions. Their impact, in general, attracted a significant
amount of public support. It was appropriate for John Stuart Mill to praise Bentham as the founder
of British innovation. Bentham was also seen as an outstanding critical thinker.
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DRAWBACKS OF UTILITARIANISM
 It makes no allowance for undesirable repercussions. Utilitarian philosophy considers
actions to be good or harmful based solely on the agent's perspective. However, it is clear
that a person's happiness is frequently achieved at the expense of someone else's happiness:
for example, if you get a job, it means that other applicants were turned down.
 It's subjective and very simplistic. Nobody knows where the line between good and evil
should be placed because no action can be completely horrible.
 As a result, the theory oversimplifies morality. It takes time and is practically impossible
to achieve. Considering the repercussions of every decision takes a significant amount of
time and effort. Predictions may not come true because emergency events are rarely
predictable.

CRITICISM

 There have been a number of criticisms of Bentham’s principle. The principle as

expounded by Bentham came to be regarded as Act-utilitarianism or classical
utilitarianism.
 One objection to the principle was that it justified any crime and even made it morally
compulsory in order to achieve the satisfaction of pleasure for the greatest number.
 Bernard Williams presented a thought experiment as a criticism which involved Jim a
botanist faced with the choice of killing one prisoner for the release of others or death of
all 20 prisoners. He rejected the theory on the basis that any system that exacts immoral
acts and reduces moral decisions to mere algorithms is incompatible with morality. He
cited that utilitarianism requires the killing of the prisoner.
 The trolley thought experiment which involved deciding between killing one or five
persons by throwing a switch to divert a trolley car and physician thought experiment
which required a physician to kill one healthy person to save the life of five terminally ill
patients by preforming organ transplant demonstrate that the theory in a manner justifies
any criminal activity (e.g. genocidal murders) or endangering life for the benefit of others.
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 Another complaint presented was that the theory is impracticable. The theory assumes that
an individual has sufficient time, information and knowledge to calculate the consequences
of an act, evaluate their worth and make comparison with other alternative acts before
taking actions.
 Alternatively, a critic stated that the theory failed to recognise other motivations that guide
human action. By focusing the theory on simple pleasure and pain devolves human
thinking to animalistic needs. As a corollary Karl Marx, in Das Kapital, criticised
utilitarianism on the grounds that the principle failed to afford attention to the phenomenon
that people from different socioeconomic context perceive joy differently.
 Furthermore, Pope John Paul II argued that “Utilitarianism is a civilization of production
and of use, a civilization of things and not of persons, a civilization in which persons are
used in the same way as things are used”. Therefore, utilitarianism tended to make people
similar to objects of use.
 A prominent criticism was the failure of the principle to distinguish between the well-being
of strangers and that of known persons. Therefore, the principle ignores our special
obligations. Any act where one prefers a close relative over a stranger shall be an immoral
act under utilitarianism. Roger Scruton criticises that theory does not give duty a place
inside our ethical judgements. Peter Singer, a modern day utilitarian, answers that “the
question however, is not what we usually do, but what we ought to do, and it is difficult to
see any sound moral justification for the view that distance, or community membership,
makes a crucial difference to our obligations”.
 Furthermore, some critics have raised ‘demandingness objection’ which states that the
combination of equality with the greatest good for greatest number places unreasonable
demands on an individual.
 The huge number of people and the indefinitely many opportunities to make sacrifices to
help them would require a person to sacrifice a lot and remain in a constant state of hardship
and self-denial. According to Hooker this is wasteful as such sacrifice shall only result in
a slight increase in the aggregate good.
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MERITS
 Bentham’s legal reforms thinking and enthusiasm ushered in a new era of legal reforms in
England. He contributed new ideas on law-making and legal research.
 His definition of law and analysis of legal terms inspired many jurists, who improved upon
it and laid the groundwork for new schools.
 Bentham also provided solutions to issues regarding the nature of positive law.

DEMERITS
 Bentham’s theory has some shortcomings, according to Friedmann.
 Firstly, in his attempt to merge materialism with idealism, Bentham underestimated the
importance of individual discretion and flexibility in law application, overestimating the
power of the legislator.
 Secondly, the theory does not balance individual interests with those of the community.
 Additionally, the theory is too abstract and fails to account for the complexities of human
nature.
 Furthermore, the theory has no practical application and using pain and pleasure as the sole
test for judging law is inadequate.
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CONCLUSION

Jurisprudence is the scientific study of law. It is a kind of science that investigates the creation,
application, and requirement of laws. Jurisprudence is the investigation of theories and methods
of insight in regards to the law. It has viable and instructive esteem. The two main principles of
utilitarian philosophy are problematic – happiness and consequences. Whereas deontology places
moral value on anything intrinsic to the agent, the utilitarianism of his / her motives places moral
value on something extrinsic to the agent which produces the results of the behaviour in terms of
happiness. To deontologists the end rarely justifies the means; the end still justifies the means to
utilitarian. Utilitarianism is a moral code of ethics that is only as useful as the person who interprets
and uses it.

This is just a method for addressing ethical issues, one that needs to be used with complete
awareness of the good and the negative to balance. Perhaps it is a code of ethics that is valuable
but imperfect for humans; we cannot make decisions that please everyone; this is impossible.
Instead, it is in our best interests to act for the greater good, as what would be the sense in
displeasing the majority unless the majority is morally repugnant and evil. Somehow this
consideration is scary as it might be possible that an individual’s view is at stake if it is no longer
in the best interests of the majority. Do my opinion and feelings no longer count to a utilitarian
decision maker? However with sound reasoning and sensible interpretation utilitarianism shall
work, but only for those whose intentions coincide with the majority.

Beginning with predetermined preferences, the government may calculate the universal interest by
putting all people's pleasures and suffering on an equal footing. Unfortunately, the problem for
Bentham's detractors is that, in their view of the world, a large laissez-faire economy combined
with new forms of social control and power seems to lead to the great happiness of the greatest
number. However, it does not state that every action is determined instrumentally. It is not that
every action is wrong in their virtue, but some acts are turning to be wrong in terms of effects. In
this way Bentham endeavors to dismiss the legitimate traditional criterion of individual actions
and intentions. However, a few people may do wrong as they exploit their rights and violate
freedom of movement and autonomy and in this way, happiness is decreased resulting from an
activity. Overall, the philosophy of utility is based on moral quality, and Bentham has taken an
intricate position on moral evaluation to determine actions’ quality.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY

 https://www.utilitarianism.com/hedcalc.htm#:~:text=%22

 https://iep.utm.edu/util-a-r/#:~:text=Utilitarianism%20is%20one%20of%20the,ba d%
20results%20that%20they%20produce

 https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/utilitarianism-history/
 https://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-3093-a-brief-notes-on-utilitarianism-
a-study-on-bentham-and-j-s-mill-views.html