12 Jan y 1817

Necessity Cat.

1. Theory

§ 3. Forms of Government

4

Q. 7. M r Bentham in his work on legislation civil and penal published from his papers by M r Dumont speaks of a branch of political power by the name of power of classification and aggregation? What say you to this power? what relation does it bear to the branches of power in relation to which we have just been settling our conceptions?

A. The indication given of it was a necessary one. Take {up} for consideration the power of command: if in the suppose it /suppose the party to whom it is/ addressed to an individual agent only, or to any number of individual agents by their individual names, thereupon when the /in each instance designation is made of the/ agent, and of the individual act which it is desired he should perform or forbear performing, the expression given to the command is by the ruler in question compleated at the time. But if for the designation either of the agent or of the act, the name of a species be /is/ employed, the expression given to the command is not thus compleated at the time. Here then in so far as the either the faculty of giving a description of the species in the lump, or the faculty of determining from time to time what individuals shall be considered as belonging to that species is considered as belonging /appertaining/ to any person, that person possesses in relation to the subject matter in question a power of classification: he possesses thereby a share in the imperative power: and, without the other, either of these powers is not entire /integral/ but fractional only.