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Article: Utilitarianism
- Article from:
- West's Encyclopedia of American Law
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UTILITARIANISM
In
jurisprudence,
a philosophy whose adherents believe that law must be made to conform to its most socially useful purpose. Although utilitarians differ as to the meaning of the word
useful,
most agree that a law's utility may be defined as its ability to increase happiness, wealth, or justice. Conversely, some utilitarians measure a law's usefulness by its ability to decrease unhappiness, poverty, or injustice.
The utilitarianism movement originated in Great Britain during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when philosophers jeremy bentham, john austin, john stuart mill, and Henry Sidgwick began criticizing various aspects of the common law. Bentham, the ...