Principles of Morals and

196/Jeremy Bentham
In this case then a line is drawn which may be the same for every man,
and in the description of which, such as it is, whatever persons are con-
cerned may be certain of agreeing: the circumstance of time affording a
mark by which the line in question may be traced with the utmost degree
of nicety. On the other hand, where the insufficiency is the result of
insanity, there is not even this resource: so that here the legislator has no
other expedient than to appoint some particular person or persons to
give a particular determination of the question, in every instance in which
it occurs, according to his or their particular and arbitrary discretion.
Arbitrary enough it must be at any rate, since the only way in which it
can be exercised is by considering whether the share of intelligence pos-
sessed by the individual in question does or does not come up to the
loose and indeterminate idea which persons so appointed may chance to
entertain with respect to the quantity which is deemed sufficient.
XLV. The line then being drawn, or supposed to be so, it is expedi-
ent to a man who cannot, with safety to himself, be left in his own
power, that he should be placed in the power of another. How long then
should he remain so? Just so long as his inability is supposed to con-
tinue: that is, in the case of infancy, till he arrives at that period at which
the law deems him to be of full age: in the case of insanity, till he be of
sound mind and understanding. Now it is evident, that this period, in the
case of infancy, may not arrive for a considerable time: and in the case
of insanity, perhaps never. The duration of the power belonging to this
trust must therefore, in the one case, be very considerable; in the other
case, indefinite.
XLVI. The next point to consider, is what may be the extent of it?
for as to what ought to be, that is a matter to be settled, not in a general
analytical sketch, but in a particular and circumstantial dissertation. By
possibility, then, this power may possess any extent that can be imag-
ined: it may extend to any acts which, physically speaking, it may be in
the power of the ward to perform himself, or be the object of if exercised
by the guardian. Conceive the power, for a moment, to stand upon this
footing: the condition of the ward stands now exactly upon a footing
with pure slavery. Add the obligation by which the power is turned into
a trust: the limits of the power are now very considerably narrowed.
What then is the purport of this obligation? Of what nature is the course
of conduct it prescribes? It is such a course of conduct as shall be best
calculated for procuring to the ward the greatest quantity of happiness
which his faculties, and the circumstances he is in, will admit of: saving

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Principles of Morals and Legislation/197
always, in the first place, the regard which the guardian is permitted to
show to his own happiness; and, in the second place, that which he is
obliged, as well as permitted, to show to that of other men. This is, in
fact, no other than that course of conduct which the ward, did he but
know how, ought, in point of prudence, to maintain of himself: so that
the business of the former is to govern the latter precisely in the manner
in which this latter ought to govern himself. Now to instruct each indi-
vidual in what manner to govern his own conduct in the details of life, is
the particular business of private ethics: to instruct individuals in what
manner to govern the conduct of those whose happiness, during nonage,
is committed to their charge, is the business of the art of private educa-
tion. The details, therefore, of the rules to be given for that purpose, any
more than the acts which are capable of being committed in violation of
those rules, belong not to the art of legislation: since, as will be seen
more particularly hereafter, such details could not, with any chance of
advantage, be provided for by the legislator. Some general outlines might
indeed be drawn by his authority: and, in point of fact, some are in every
civilized state. But such regulations, it is evident, must be liable to great
variation: in the first place, according to the infinite diversity of civil
conditions which a man may stand invested with in any given state: in
the next place, according to the diversity of local circumstances that
may influence the nature of the conditions which may chance to be es-
tablished in different states. On this account, the offences which would
be constituted by such regulations could not be comprised under any
concise and settled denominations, capable of a permanent and exten-
sive application. No place, therefore, can be allotted to them here.
XLVII. By what has been said, we are the better prepared for taking
an account of the offences to which the condition in question stands
exposed. Guardianship being a private trust, is of course exposed to
those offences, and no others, by which a private trust is liable to be
affected. Some of them, however, on account of the special quality of
the trust, will admit of some further particularity of description. In the
first place, breach of this species of trust may be termed mismanage-
ment of guardianship: in the second place, of whatever nature the duties
are which are capable of being annexed to this condition, it must often
happen, that in order to fulfil them, it is necessary the guardian should
be at a certain particular place. Mismanagement of guardianship, when
it consists in the not being, on the occasion in question, at the place in
question, may be termed desertion of guardianship. Thirdly, It is mani-

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