Jeremy Bentham - De l'organisation judiciaire et de la codification - 1828

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832). On the Judicial Organization and Codification. Paris, Bossange, 1828, xi-483 pp.

A volume in octavo (210x130 mm), half morocco Havana, spine with gold-tooled and blind-stamped decoration, title and volume labels in black morocco (bindings of the period). Wear and rubbing on the spine. Sporadic foxing.

First French edition

Jeremy Bentham sets forth his reflections on the organization of the courts, the administration of justice, and the codification of laws. The text, extracted from his writings and prepared by the Geneva philosopher Étienne Dumont, defends a more rational justice, whose rules and procedures must be clearly defined in order to limit judicial arbitrariness. Bentham examines in particular the distribution of judicial functions, the role of judges, and the means of improving the functioning of legal institutions.

The second part is devoted to codification: Bentham develops the idea of an organized, coherent, and accessible body of laws, designed to render legal rules more intelligible and their application more predictable.