Abstract
Abstract Bentham’s distinction of “private ethics” and penal law is explained. “Private ethics” means the moral duties a person has, given the principle of utility. All acts prohibited by a utilitarian penal code would be prohibited by private ethics. But private ethics requires people to do some things not required by utilitarian penal law. A utilitarian penal code will treat almost all failures to perform the moral duties of probity as offenses. It will rarely treat failures to perform duties of prudence and beneficence as offenses. The two passages where Bentham argues for expanding the scope of penal law as it was in his day are discussed. These concern cruelty to animals, and “bad Samaritanism.” Bentham’s thoughts on the relation of penal and civil law are explained, as well as their influence on his project of producing a pannomion, or complete set of utilitarian law codes.
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