ABSTRACT
Like other branches of legislation, the general end of political economy was the maximization of happiness in the community. This general end was divided into four subordinate ends: subsistence; security; abundance; and equality. In the ‘Introduction’ to Institute of Political Economy, Bentham described:
The object of the present work is to enquire what is the most suitable course for the sovereign of a country to pursue on each occasion . . . the maximum of happiness with reference to the several members of the community taken together. . . . This object may be termed the general end or end paramount, with reference to certain other objects which, separately taken, are of less extent and of subordinate importance: I mean 1. subsistence, 2. security, 3. [abundance which comprises] enjoyment or opulence, [and] populousness, [4.] equality.
