In the Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789), Bentham strove `to cut a new road through the wilds of jurisprudence'. Laws should be socially useful and not merely reflect the status quo; and, that while he believed that human beings inevitably pursue pleasure and avoid pain, Bentham thought it to be a `sacred truth' that `the greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation'.