Principles of Morals and

200/Jeremy Bentham
vestment of guardianship. 7. Wrongful detrectation of wardship. This
coincides with wrongful interception of guardianship. 8. Wrongful im-
position of wardship, This, if the offender be the pretended guardian,
coincides with usurpation of guardianship: if a stranger, it involves in it
wrongful imposition of guardianship. As to such of the offences relative
to this condition, as concern the consequences of it while subsisting,
they are of such a nature that, without any change of denomination, they
belong equally to the condition of a guardian and that of a ward. We
may therefore reckon seventeen sorts of offences relative to the condi-
tion of a ward: 1. Wrongful non-investment of wardship. 2. Wrongful
interception of wardship. 3. Wrongful divestment of wardship. 4. Usur-
pation of wardship. 5. Wrongful investment of wardship. 6. Wrongful
abdication of wardship. 7. Wrongful detrectation of wardship. 8. Wrong-
ful imposition of wardship. 9. Mismanagement of guardianship. 10.
Desertion of guardianship. 11. Dissipation in prejudice of wardship. 12.
Peculation in prejudice of wardship. 13. Disturbance of guardianship.
14. Breach of duty to guardians. 15. Elopement from guardians. 16.
Ward-stealing. 17. Bribery in prejudice of wardship.
XLIX. We come now to the offences to which the condition or of a
parent stands exposed: and first, with regard to those by which the very
existence of the condition is affected. On this occasion, in order to see
the more clearly into the subject, it will be necessary to distinguish be-
tween the natural relationship, and the legal relationship which is super-
induced as it were upon the natural one. The natural one being consti-
tuted by a particular event, which, either on account of its being already
past, or on some other account, is equally out of the power of the law
neither is, nor can be made, the subject of an offence. Is a man your
father? It is not any offence of mine that can make you not his son. Is he
not your father? It is not any offence of mine that can render him so. But
although he does in fact bear that relation to you, I, by an offence of
mine, may perhaps so manage matters, that he shall not be thought to
bear it: which, with respect to any legal advantages which either he or
you could derive from such relationship, will be the same thing as if he
did not. In the capacity of a witness, I may cause the judges to believe
that he is not your father, and to decree accordingly: or, in the capacity
of a judge, I may myself decree him not to be your father. Leaving then
the purely natural relationship as an object equally out of the reach of
justice and injustice, the legal condition, it is evident, will stand exposed
to the same offences, neither more nor less, as every other condition,

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Principles of Morals and Legislation/201
that is capable of being either beneficial or burthensome, stands ex-
posed to. Next, with regard to the exercise of the functions belonging to
this condition, considered as still subsisting. In parentality there must
be two persons concerned, the father and the mother. The condition of a
parent includes, therefore, two conditions; that of a father, and that of a
mother, with respect to such or such a child. Now it is evident, that
between these two parties, whatever beneficiary powers, and other rights,
as also whatever obligations, are annexed to the condition of a parent,
may be shared in any proportions that can be imagined. But if in these
several objects of legal creation, each of these two parties have sever-
ally a share, and if the interests of all these parties are in any degree
provided for, it is evident that each of the parents will stand, with rela-
tion to the child, in two several capacities: that of a master, and that of
a guardian. The condition of a parent then, in as far as it is the work of
law, may be considered as a complex condition, compounded of that of
a guardian, and that of a master. To the parent then, in quality of guard-
ian, results a set of duties, involving, as necessary to the discharge of
them, certain powers: to the child, in the character of a ward, a set of
rights corresponding to the parent’s duties, and a set of duties corre-
sponding to his powers. To the parent again, in quality of master, a set
of beneficiary powers, without any other necessary limitation (so long
as they last) than what is annexed to them by the duties incumbent on
him in quality of a guardian: to the child, in the character of a servant, a
set of duties corresponding to the parent’s beneficiary powers, and without
any other necessary limitation (so long as they last) than what is an-
nexed to them by the rights which belong to the child in his capacity of
ward. The condition of a parent will therefore be exposed to all the
offences to which either that of a guardian or that of a master are ex-
posed: and, as each of the parents will partake, more or less, of both
those characters, the offences to which the two conditions are exposed
may be nominally, as they will be substantially, the same. Taking them
then all together, the offences to which the condition of a parent is ex-
posed will stand as follows: 1. Wrongful non-investment of parentality.
2. Wrongful interception of parentality. 3. Wrongful divestment of
parentality. 4. Usurpation of parentality. 5. Wrongful investment of
parentality. 6. Wrongful abdication of parentality. 7. Wrongful
detrectation of parentality. 8. Wrongful imposition of parentality. 9.
Mismanagement of parental guardianship. 10. Desertion of parental
guardianship. 11. Dissipation in prejudice of filial wardship. 12. Pecu-

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