16. BENTHAM'S INFLUENCE IN THE REFORMS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY ^ By John Forrest Dillon ^ ""OENTHAM'S theories upon legal subjects have had a JL^ " degree of practical influence upon the legislation " of his own and various other countries comparable only to " those of Adam Smith and his successors upon commerce." Such is the opinion of Sir James Stephen concerning the in- fluence and effect of Bentham's legal writings and labors.^ As late as 1874 Sir Henry Maine went so far as to declare: " I do not know a single law reform effected since Ben- " tham's day which cannot be traced to his influence ; but a " still more startling proof of the clearing of the brain pro- " duced by this system [the system of Hobbes, Bentham, and "Austin], even in an earlier stage, may be found in
- Hobbes. In his ' Dialogue of the Common Laws,' he argues
" for a fusion of law and equity, a registration of titles to
- ' land, and a systematic penal code, — three measures Avhich
we are on the eve of seeing carried out at this moment." *
- These passages are taken from " The Laws and Jurisprudence of
England and America," 1894, being lecttires delivered at Yale Univer- sity; (Boston: Little, Brown, & Co.). Lecture XII, pp. 316-347; the author has revised them for this Collection.
- Member of the New York Bar. M. D. Iowa LTniversity; admitted
to the Iowa Bar, 1852; judge of the seventh judicial circuit of Iowa, 1858-1863; judge of the Supreme Court of Iowa, 1863-1869; judge of the United States Circuit Court for the eighth judicial district, 1869- 1879; professor of law in Columbia University, 1879-1882; former Presi- dent of the American Bar Association. Other Publications: Law of Municipal Corporations, 1872; Law of Removal of Causes from State to Federal Courts, 1877; Law of Munic- ipal Bonds, 1876; Life, Character, and Judicial Services of Chief Justice Marshall. • Sir James FitzJames Stephen, " History of Criminal Law of Eng- land." London, 1883, vol. ii., chap, xxi., p. 216.
- Early History of Institutions, Lecture XIII. Others also, well
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