JB/023/102/002

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1830. Dec. 21
J. B. to France.
Letter III. On Majority
Jeremy Bentham
to his
Fellow-Citizens of France.
Letter III.
On the time of Full Age, more particularly in the case of
a Deputy of the People.

Fellow-Citizens!
Once more I take the liberty of addressing to you
a suggestion. It is of the number of those which the times call
for. Subject matter of it, the age of majority (a): the age of majority
in general; but more particularly in the case of a Deputy
sent by the People to the Legislature body. Question — What
shall be the smallest number of years at the end of which
a man shall be admitted to sit and act in that capacity.

To come to the point at once, I say one and twenty. Not
very easy would it be to say what the need or use is for exclusion to be
put on any age. But in deference to authority and custom I acquiesce
in exclusion up to that age; because up to that age, from such exclusion,
though needless and unless, no precise detriment to the community
can be seen to flow; and of the harmlessness of the admission at that age
precisely, I behold irrefragable and triumphant evidence.

Vast is the importance of this question: short — happily short —
is the compass within the discussion of it may be comprised.

The case of a Member of Legislative assembly is that which
I begin with. Why? Because in this case the arguments against exclusion
are plainest and the bearings of them most determinate, and
in them are included such as may suffice for proof of the
sufficiency of the same age for the management of each man's
concerns in private life.

Official situations, two: the age at which one of them shall
be permitted to officiate, not less than 25 years of age: for the
other 18 years is made sufficient. Attached to the one for which
25 years is necessary what is the share of power? a fraction
consisting of one part out of a hundred. What in the other
case? the entire mass unbroken. And what are the functions by
which exercise is given to it? Answer — Amongst other things
locating all the officers in the Administrative department — all
in the Military department — &c.

<head>(a) In English, full age, or mature age, or in one word maturity,
present themselves as preferable: as to majority, taken by itself, it does not
present the idea which it is here employed to signify: only by means of
the appropriate context it can be made to do so.</note>

Identifier: \| JB/023/102/002 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 23.
Date_1	1830-12-21	Marginal Summary Numbering
Box	023	Main Headings	lord brougham displayed
Folio number	102	Info in main headings field	jb to france
Image	002	Titles	jeremy bentham to his fellow-citizens of france / letter iii / on the time of full age, more particularly in the case of a deputy of the people
Category	copy/fair copy sheet	Number of Pages	2
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	e1 / e6
Penner	james mill	Watermarks	street & co 1830
Marginals		Paper Producer	antonio alcala galiano
Corrections		Paper Produced in Year	1830
Notes public		ID Number	7973
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JB/023/102/002

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