Bentham's principle of utility (applied in politics)

That action is best, which procures the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers. FRANCIS HUTCHESON 1694-1746 Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue (1725). Treatise II. Concerning Moral Good and Evil, sec. 3, 8 INTRODUCTION In the effort to explain how Bentham envisaged that politics ought to be guided by the principle of utility, one has first to consider some of his social, moral and legal theoretical propositions, which seem to be interwoven with …

… through the principle of utility. However, though the law has to be precise, clarified, and codified, it is sure that the political agents will try to exploit the vast powers of their offices. For that very reason, representative democracy seems as the only system of political authority still consonant with this principle. After everything else, it is up to us, the citizens, to make such a form of government function well in our advantage.