[…]Bentham’s enduring legacy is a complex one. On the one hand, he is associated with utilitarian projects for social reform which suggested an activist conception of the state and which attracted charges of collectivism. On the other, his constitutional theory, with its suspicion of big government and its democratic commitment to accountability and openness, suggests a liberal. Bentham died in 1832, immediately following the passing of the Great Reform Act. Though modest compared to his radical proposals, this began the process of the slow and painful democratisation of the British polity that Bentham had come to regard as essential in order to govern in the interest of the public.