F. Rosen
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198200789
- eISBN:
- 9780191674778
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198200789.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, History of Ideas
This chapter considers three major themes of the ‘Observations’: Jeremy Bentham's thesis that the acceptance of popular sovereignty should lead to a transformation of the theory and practice of ...
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This chapter considers three major themes of the ‘Observations’: Jeremy Bentham's thesis that the acceptance of popular sovereignty should lead to a transformation of the theory and practice of constitutional government; his use of the greatest happiness principle to resolve problems arising from the exclusion of the Turkish community from citizenship; and his novel and important contribution to constitutional theory in the doctrine of ‘latent negatives’. The chapter also explores the relationship between the ‘Observations’ and Bentham's better-known work on constitutional government, the Constitutional Code. Finally, it discusses the allegation that the constitution of Epidaurus was a mere ‘façade’ created by Greece to impress Europeans as to the capacity of the Greeks to operate a Western, centralised government. This allegation raises not only the question of the point of Bentham's commentary but also the general issue of the relationship of constitutional theory to practice.Less
This chapter considers three major themes of the ‘Observations’: Jeremy Bentham's thesis that the acceptance of popular sovereignty should lead to a transformation of the theory and practice of constitutional government; his use of the greatest happiness principle to resolve problems arising from the exclusion of the Turkish community from citizenship; and his novel and important contribution to constitutional theory in the doctrine of ‘latent negatives’. The chapter also explores the relationship between the ‘Observations’ and Bentham's better-known work on constitutional government, the Constitutional Code. Finally, it discusses the allegation that the constitution of Epidaurus was a mere ‘façade’ created by Greece to impress Europeans as to the capacity of the Greeks to operate a Western, centralised government. This allegation raises not only the question of the point of Bentham's commentary but also the general issue of the relationship of constitutional theory to practice.
