"The people is my Caesar": truth and publicity in the administration of justice according to Jeremy Bentham

Journal title SOCIOLOGIA DEL DIRITTO
Author/s Marco Segatti
Publishing Year 2013 Issue 2013/1 Language Italian
Pages 12 P. 147-158 File size 188 KB
DOI 10.3280/SD2013-001011
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

This article discusses certain aspects of Bentham’s theory of judgement and analyses the close relationship between the value of the accuracy of judicial decisions and the need for them to be justified publicly at the conclusion of public proceedings. Three dimensions of the value of accuracy are identified, starting from three functions of the principle of publicity. Publicity can be construed as a tool of accuracy, in which case the value of that accuracy coincides with the achievement of the aims that the legislator has attributed to the substantial law being applied. Secondly, publicity may serve as a means for transforming governmental practices, in which case the accuracy of the government’s decisions describes a particular conception of the relations both between citizens and between the authorities and their citizens. Lastly, publicity constitutes a test of accuracy, in which case it provides an opportunity for evaluating the consequences of the application of the substantial law in question

Keywords: Bentham, Judgement, Accuracy, Publicity

  1. Bentham, Jeremy, 1843a. Essay on the Promulgation of Laws. In John Bowring (a cura di), The Works of Jeremy Bentham, vol. I. Edinburgh: William Tait. —, 1843b. Scotch Reform. In John Bowring (a cura di), The Works of Jeremy Bentham, vol. V. Edinburgh: William Tait. —, 1843c. Rationale of Judicial Evidence. In John Bowring (a cura di), The Works of Jeremy Bentham, vol. VI. Edinburgh: William Tait. —, 1843d. The Constitutional Code. In John Bowring (a cura di), The Works of Jeremy Bentham, vol. IX. Edinburgh: William Tait. —, 1843e. Correspondence. In John Bowring (a cura di), The Works of Jeremy Bentham, vol. X. Edinburgh: William Tait. —, 1977. A Comment on the Commentaries and A Fragment on Government, a cura di J. H Burns & H. L. A. Hart. London: Athlone Press
  2. Cappelletti, Mauro (a cura di), 1978. Access to Justice. 4 voll. Milano: Giuffrè
  3. Dinwiddy, John Rowland, 2004. Bentham: Selected Writings of John Dinwiddy, a cura di William Twining. Stanford: Stanford University Press
  4. Draper, Anthony, 2004. Corruptions in the Administration of Justice: Bentham’s Critique of Civil Procedure, 1806-1811. Journal of Bentham Studies, 7: 1-22
  5. Ferraro, Francesco, 2011. Il giudice utilitarista: Flessibilità e tutela delle aspettative nel pensiero giuridico di Jeremy Bentham. Pisa: ETS
  6. Foucault, Michel, [1975] 1976. Sorvegliare e punire: Nascita della prigione. Torino: Einaudi
  7. Giacomelli, Silvia, & Giuliana, Palumbo, 2011. Giustizia civile e funzionamento dell’economia. Analisi giuridica dell’economia, 10, 1: 7-16.
  8. Perelman, Jeremy, & Katharine Young, 2010. Rights as Footprints: A New Metaphor for Contemporary Human Rights Practice. Northwestern Journal of International Human Rights, 9, 1: 27-58
  9. Postema, Gerald J., 1986. Bentham and the Common Law Tradition. Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. Putnam, Hilary, 2001. Enlightenment and Pragmatism. Assen: Koninklijke van Gorcum
  11. Resnik, Judith, & Dennis Curtis, 2011. Representing Justice: Invention, Controversy, and Rights in City-States and Democratic Courtrooms. New Haven: Yale University Press
  12. Rosen, Frederick, 1983. Jeremy Bentham and Representative Democracy: A Study of the Constitutional Code. Oxford: Clarendon Press
  13. Sandefur, Rebecca L., 2008. Access to Civil Justice and Race, Class, and Gender Inequality. Annual Review of Sociology, 34: 339-358
  14. Sen, Amartya, 1985. Well-being, Agency and Freedom: The Dewey Lectures 1984. Journal of Philosophy, 82, 4: 169-221
  15. Taruffo, Michele, 1997. Idee per una teoria della decisione giusta. Rivista trimestrale di diritto e procedura civile, 51, 2: 315 ss
  16. Taruffo, Michele, 2009. La semplice verità: Il giudice e la costruzione dei fatti. Roma- Bari: Laterza
  17. Zuckerman, Adrian A. S., 1999. The Dimensions of Civil Justice. In Adrian A.S. Zuckerman (a cura di), Civil Justice in Crisis: Comparative Perspectives of Civil Procedure. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Marco Segatti, "The people is my Caesar": verità e pubblicità nell’amministrazione della giustizia secondo Jeremy Bentham in "SOCIOLOGIA DEL DIRITTO " 1/2013, pp 147-158, DOI: 10.3280/SD2013-001011