How did Bentham use sovereignty to explain why a rule counts as law?

In the philosophy of law, Jeremy Bentham defined law as an "assemblage of signs declarative of a volition conceived or adopted by the sovereign of a state." He utilized the concept of sovereignty to establish both the unity of a legal system and the criteria for legal validity.1

According to Bentham, a specific rule qualifies as a law within a system if, and only if, it bears the correct relationship—either through origination or adoption—to an exercise of sovereign legislative power. He explained the power of the sovereign by referencing the "habit of obedience" among the people of a community. This habit is not merely simple compliance but a dynamic, interactional relationship where citizens regularly conform to the sovereign's commands, and this obedience is both known and expected among the members of the community.1

By grounding legal validity in this relationship to a sovereign, Bentham sought to provide a clear, objective basis for identifying law, contrasting his view with common-law theories that he argued failed to provide rational guidance to citizens.1