Sometimes, in order the better to conceal the cheat (from their own eyes doubtless as well as from others) they set up a phantom of their own, which they call Justice: whose dictates are to modify (which being explained, means to oppose) the dictates of benevolence. But justice, in the only sense in which it has a meaning, is an imaginary personage, feigned for the convenience of discourse, whose dictates are the dictates of utility, applied to certain particular cases. Justice, then, is nothing more than an imaginary instrument, employed to forward on certain occasions, and by certain means, the purposes of benevolence. The dictates of justice are nothing more than a part of the dictates of benevolence, which, on certain occasions, are applied to certain subjects; to wit, to certain actions.
(Jeremy Bentham, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, ed. J. H. Burns and H. L. A. Hart, in The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham, ed. F. Rosen and Philip Schofield [Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996], chap. 10, sec. 4, p. 120, n. b2 [book first published in 1789])
Note from KBJ: Bentham, like John Stuart Mill after him, denied that justice is an independent principle or virtue. The only relevant consideration in a distribution of benefits or burdens is how much utility (i.e., pleasure) it produces. That the distribution is equal is neither here nor there. That the distribution is in accordance with desert is neither here nor there. Utilitarians view their theory as simple. Most others view it as simplistic.
Note 2 from KBJ: If you click the image, you will see Bentham's stuffed body (known as the Auto-Icon) in a wooden cabinet at the University of London. The head on the body is fake. Bentham's actual head, now shrunken and blackened, lies between his legs. Bentham stipulated in his will that his body be stuffed and displayed in this manner. The idea, apparently, was to inspire future generations. Are you inspired?
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 