Maine, Henry

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'''Sir Henry James Sumner Maine''' (August 15, 1822 – February 3, 1888) was an [[England|English]] comparative jurist and [[law|legal]] historian. Influenced by his experiences in [[India]], Maine compared Eastern and Western ideas, finding common threads in the development of society. His work investigated the early development of law, introducing the notion that societies moved from being bound by [[social status]] in their relationships, to independent individuals who were free to make [[contract]]s with other individuals. Although many of his ideas on the development of law have been discredited, Maine’s work on the history of [[jurisprudence]] greatly contributed to an understanding of how legal systems have developed over time. His emphasis on the social factors involved in legal transactions laid the foundation for later work in the sociology of law, and is valuable in providing insights into the nature of social structure that supports peaceful, harmonious human relationships.
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==Life==
  
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'''Henry James Sumner Maine''' was born on August 15, 1822, in Leighton, [[England]], into the family of Dr. James and Eliza Maine. After his parents separated, Henry moved with his mother to Henley-on-Thames, where he spent his childhood. He was educated at Henley and Christ’s Hospital, where he showed great intellectual abilities and earned a scholarship to Pembroke College, [[University of Cambridge]], in 1840.
  
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'''Sir Henry James Sumner Maine''' ([[August 15]], [[1822]] - [[February 3]], [[1888]]) was an [[England|English]] comparative jurist and [[historian]], son of Dr [[James Maine]], of [[Kelso]], [[Scottish Borders|Borders]], [[Scotland]].
+
At Cambridge he was one of the most brilliant classical scholars of his time. He won numerous prizes and medals, among which were the Craven scholarship, Chancellors Senior Classical Medal, and medals in Latin Composition, Greek, and English Verse. He graduated from Cambridge in 1844.  
  
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He is famous for the thesis, outlined in "Ancient Law", that law and society developed "from status to contract". In the ancient world individuals were tightly bound by status to traditional groups, while in the modern one, in which individuals are viewed as autonomous beings, they are free to make contracts and form associations with whomever they choose. Because of this thesis, he can be seen as one of the forefathers of modern [[sociology of law]].
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Shortly afterwards Maine accepted a tutorship at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. In 1847, he was appointed regius professor of [[civil law]], and was called to the [[bar association|bar]] three years later. He remained in Trinity Hall until 1854.  
  
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He was at school at [[Christ's Hospital]], and thence went up to [[Pembroke College, Cambridge]], in 1840. At Cambridge he was one of the most brilliant classical scholars of his time. He won a Craven scholarship and graduated as senior classic in 1844, being also senior chancellor's medallist in classics. Shortly afterwards he accepted a tutorship at [[Trinity Hall, Cambridge|Trinity Hall]]. In 1847 he was appointed regius professor of [[Civil law (legal system)|civil law]], and he was called to the bar three years later; he held this chair till 1854. Even the rudiments of [[Roman law]] were not then included in the ordinary training of English [[lawyer]]s; it was assumed at the universities that any good [[Latin]] scholar could qualify himself at short notice for keeping up such tradition of civilian studies as survived. Maine cannot have known much Roman law in 1847, but in 1856 he contributed to the ''Cambridge Essays'' the essay on Roman law and legal education, republished in the later editions of ''Village Communities'', which was the first characteristic evidence of his genius. [[Image:HSMaine.jpg|thumb|The young Maine]]  
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In 1847, Maine fell in love with his cousin, Jane Maine, and married her the same year. The couple had two sons. [[Image:HSMaine.jpg|thumb|The young Maine]]  
  
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Meanwhile he had become one of the readers appointed by the [[Inns of Court]], in the first of their many half-hearted attempts at legal education, in 1852. Lectures delivered by Maine in this capacity were the groundwork of ''Ancient Law'' (1861) (See [[Wikisource:Ancient Law|Wikisource]]), the book by which his reputation was made at one stroke. Its object, as stated in the preface, was "to indicate some of the earliest ideas of mankind, as they are reflected in ancient law, and to point out the relation of those ideas to modern thought." Within a year of its publication the post of legal member of council in India was offered to Maine, then a junior member of the bar with little practice, few advantages of connection, and no political or official claims. He declined once, on grounds of health; the very next year the office was again vacant. This time Maine was persuaded to accept, not that his health had improved, but that he thought [[India]] might not make it much worse.
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In 1852, Maine had become one of the readers appointed by the Inns of Court, teaching [[Roman law]] and [[jurisprudence]]. Lectures delivered in this capacity served as the groundwork for his masterpiece, ''Ancient Law,'' published in 1861, which made him world-famous. Within a year of its publication, a post on the council of the governor-general in [[India]] was offered to Maine, then a junior member of the bar with little practice, few advantages of connection, and no political or official claims. Maine declined the first time, on grounds of poor health. However, when the very next year the office was again vacant, Maine was persuaded to accept, not because his health had improved, but that he thought India might not make it much worse.
  
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It turned out that India suited him much better than Cambridge or London. He was asked to prolong his services beyond the regular term of five years, and returned to England in 1869. The subjects on which it was his duty to advise the government of India were as much political as legal. They ranged from such problems as the land settlement of the [[Punjab region|Punjab]], or the introduction of civil marriage to provide for the needs of unorthodox [[Hindu]]s, to the question how far the study of [[Persian language|Persian]] should be required or encouraged among European civil servants. Plans of codification were prepared, and largely shaped, under Maine's direction, which were implemented by his successors, [[James Fitzjames Stephen|Sir J Fitzjames Stephen]] and [[Whitley Stokes|Dr Whitley Stokes]]. The results are open to criticism in details, but form on the whole a remarkable achievement in the conversion of unwritten and highly technical law into a body of written law sufficiently clear to be administered by officers to many of whom its ideas and language are foreign. All this was in addition to the routine of legislative and consulting work and the establishment of the legislative department of the government of India.
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It turned out that India suited him much better than Cambridge or [[London]]. He worked as the adviser to the government, counseling on the wide variety of issues, including the land settlement of the Punjab region, the introduction of civil [[marriage]] to provide for the needs of unorthodox [[Hinduism|Hindu]]s, as well as the question of how far the study of [[Persian language]] should be required among European civil servants. Plans of codification were prepared, and largely shaped, under Maine's direction, which were implemented by his successors, [[James Fitzjames Stephen]] and Whitley Stokes. All this was in addition to the routine of legislative and consulting work and the establishment of the legislative department of the government of India. He also served as vice-chancellor of the University of Calcutta. Maine stayed in India for five years and was asked to prolong his services beyond the regular term. He returned to England in 1869.  
  
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Maine's power of swiftly assimilating new ideas and appreciating modes of thought and conduct remote from modern Western life came into contact with the facts of Indian society at exactly the right time, and his colleagues and other competent observers expressed the highest opinion of his work. In return Maine brought back from his Indian office a store of knowledge which enriched all his later writings, though he took India as an explicit theme only once. This essay on India was his contribution to the composite work entitled ''The Reign of Queen Victoria'' (ed. TH Ward, 1887). As vice-chancellor of the university of Calcutta, Maine commented on the results produced by the contact of Eastern and Western thought. Three of these addresses were published, wholly or in part, in the later editions of ''Village Communities''; the substance of others is understood to be embodied in the Cambridge Rede lecture of 1875, which is to be found in the same volume. Maine became a member of the secretary of state's council in 1871, and remained so for the rest of his life. In the same year he was gazetted a K.C.S.I.
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In 1869, Maine was appointed to the chair of historical and comparative jurisprudence newly founded in the [[University of Oxford]] at Corpus Christi College. Residence at Oxford was not required, and the election amounted to an invitation to the new professor to resume and continue in his own way the work he had begun in ''Ancient Law''. During the succeeding years Maine published the principal matters of his lectures in a carefully revised literary form: ''Village Communities in the East and the West'' (1871); ''Early History of Institutions'' (1875); ''Early Law and Custom'' (1883).  
  
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In 1869 Maine was appointed to the chair of historical and comparative jurisprudence newly founded in the [[University of Oxford]] by [[Corpus Christi College, Oxford|Corpus Christi College]]. Residence at Oxford was not required, and the election amounted to an invitation to the new professor to resume and continue in his own way the work he had begun in Ancient Law. During the succeeding years he published the principal matters of his lectures in a carefully revised literary form: ''Village Communities in the East and the West'' (1871); ''Early History of Institutions'' (1875); ''Early Law and Custom'' (1883). In all these works the phenomena of societies in an archaic stage, whether still capable of observation or surviving in a fragmentary manner among more modern surroundings or preserved in contemporary records, are brought into line, often with singular felicity, to establish and illustrate the normal process of development in legal and political ideas (see [[freedom of contract]]).
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Maine became a member of the secretary of state's council in 1871, and remained so for the rest of his life. In the same year he was appointed a Knight Commander (KCSI) of Order of the Star of India.
  
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In 1877 the mastership of [[Trinity Hall, Cambridge]], where Maine had formerly been tutor, became vacant. There were two strong candidates whose claims were so nearly equal that it was difficult to elect either; the difficulty was solved by a unanimous invitation to Maine to accept the post. His acceptance entailed the resignation of the Oxford chair, though not continuous residence at Cambridge. Ten years later considerations of a similar kind led to his election to succeed [[William Vernon Harcourt (politician)|Sir William Harcourt]] as Whewell professor of international law at Cambridge. His brief performance in this office is represented by a posthumous volume which had not received his own final revision, ''International Law'' (1888).
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In 1877, the mastership of the Trinity Hall, Cambridge, became vacant and Maine was invited to accept the post. His acceptance entailed the resignation of the Oxford chair, though not continuous residence at Cambridge. Ten years later, he was elected to succeed Sir [[William Harcourt]] as Whewell professor of [[international law]] at Cambridge. His brilliant performance in this office was represented by a posthumous volume, ''International Law'' (1888).
  
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Meanwhile Maine had published in [[1885]] his one work of speculative politics, a volume of essays on ''Popular Government'', designed to show that democracy is not in itself more stable than any other form of government, and that there is no necessary connexion between democracy and progress. The book was deliberately unpopular in tone; it excited much controversial comment and some serious discussion.
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Maine's health, which had never been strong, gave way towards the end of 1887. He went to the [[France|French]] Riviera under medical advice, and died at Cannes on February 3, 1888. He left a wife, Jane, and two sons, of whom the elder died soon afterwards.
  
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In [[1886]] there appeared in the ''Quarterly Review'' (clxii. 181) an article on the posthumous work of JF McLennan, edited and completed by his brother, entitled "The Patriarchal Theory". The article, though necessarily unsigned (in accordance with the rule of the ''Quarterly'' as it then stood), was Maine's reply to the McLennan brothers' attack on the historical reconstruction of the Indo-European family system put forward in Ancient Law and supplemented in Early Law and Custom. Maine was generally averse from controversy, but showed on this occasion that it was not for want of controversial power.
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==Work==
  
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He carried the war back into the invader's country, and charged JF McLennan's theory of primitive society with owing its plausible appearance of universal validity to general neglect of the Indo-European evidence and misapprehension of such portions of it as McLennan did attempt to handle.
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Henry Maine’s most important work was his 1861 ''Ancient Law''. In it, he compared [[legal system]]s of [[primitive culture|primitive societies]], [[ancient Rome]], [[Europe]]an countries, and [[India]], in order to find some general principles of law. As Maine put it in the preface, the purpose of his book was: 
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<blockquote> … to indicate some of the earliest ideas of mankind, as they are reflected in ancient law, and to point out the relation of those ideas to modern thought (''Ancient Law,'' 1861)</blockquote>
  
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Maine's health, which had never been strong, gave way towards the end of 1887. He went to the Riviera under medical advice, and died at Cannes on the 3rd of February 1888. He left a wife, Jane, and two sons, of whom the elder died soon afterwards.
+
Maine introduced the idea that law and society developed "from status to contract." In ancient times, individuals were bound by [[social status]] and/or belonging to traditional social [[caste system|castes]]. On the other side, in the modern world, people were regarded as independent entities, free to make [[contract]]s on their own. Maine saw [[Roman law]] as the intermediate stage between ancient [[custom]]s and modern British law. He believed that in ancient times legal bonds were firmly connected with customs rooted in the [[patriarchy|patriarchal]] family system. In that system all the goods, including land and the means of production, were the [[property]] of a [[family]], and private property was practically non-existent. It was only in more recent times, with the development of settlements and later towns, that society started to apply principles of private property and depend on contract as means of creating larger and more complex relationships.
  
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An excellent summary of Maine's principal writings may be seen in [[Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff]]'s memoir. The prompt and full recognition of Maine's genius by continental publicists must not pass unmentioned even in the briefest notice. France, Germany, Italy, Russia have all contributed to do him honour: this is the more remarkable as one or two English publicists of an older school signally failed to appreciate him. Maine warned his countrymen against the insularity which results from ignorance of all law and institutions save one's own his example has shown the benefit of the contrary habit. His prominent use of Roman law and the wide range of his observation have made his works as intelligible abroad as at home and thereby much valuable information—for example, concerning the nature of British supremacy in India, and the position of native institutions there—has been made the property of the world of letters instead of the peculiar and obscure possession of a limited class of British public servants.
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Maine did not approve of the idea that law actually progressed throughout human history, and that [[democracy]] was a superior form of [[government]]. Maine had published, in 1885, his work of speculative [[politics]], a volume of essays on ''Popular Government,'' designed to show that democracy was not in itself more stable than any other form of government, and that there was no necessary connection between democracy and progress. The book was deliberately unpopular in tone; it excited much controversial comment and some serious discussion. He wrote:
 +
<blockquote>… the inquiry into the history of these [political] institutions, and the attempt to estimate their true value by the results of such an inquiry, are seriously embarrassed by a mass of ideas and beliefs which have grown up in our day on the subject of one particular form of government, that extreme form of popular government which is called Democracy. … [These ideas and beliefs] are well known to have sprung from the teaching of Jean Jacques Rousseau, who believed that men emerged from the primitive natural condition by a process which made every form of government, except Democracy, illegitimate. … Democracy is commonly described as having an inherent superiority over every other form of government. … It is thought to be full of the promise of blessings to mankind; yet if it fails to bring with it these blessings, or even proves to be prolific of the heaviest calamities, it is not held to deserve condemnation. These are the familiar marks of a theory which claims to be independent of experience and observations (''Popular Government,'' 1885).</blockquote>
  
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Foreign readers of Maine have perhaps understood even better than English ones that he is not the propounder of a system but the pioneer of a method, and that detailed criticism, profitable as it may be and necessary as in time it must be, will not leave the method itself less valid or diminish the worth of the master's lessons in its use. The rather small bulk of Maine's published and avowed work may be explained partly by a fine literary sense which would let nothing go out under his name unfinished, partly by the drawbacks incident to precarious health. Maine's temperament was averse from the labour of minute criticism, and his avoidance of it was no less a matter of prudence. But it has to be remembered that Maine also wrote much which was never publicly acknowledged. Before he went to India he was one of the original contributors to the ''Saturday Review'', founded in 1855, and the inventor of its name. Like his intimate friend Fitzjames Stephen, he was an accomplished journalist, enjoyed occasional article-writing as a diversion from official duties, and never quite abandoned it. The practice of such writing probably counted for something in the freedom and clearness of Maine's style and the effectiveness of his dialectic. His books are a model of scientific exposition which never ceases to be literature.
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Many believed that Maine particularly resented late Victorian mass democracy, and advocated instead [[laissez-faire]] economic individualism.  
  
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==Bibliography==
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Living for more than seven years in [[India]], Maine came in contact with Eastern ideas, and was able to compare them to Western thought. His ''Village Communities in the East and the West'' (1871); ''Early History of Institutions'' (1875); ''Early Law and Custom'' (1883) compared those two systems of thought, finding numerous similar points. In all these works the phenomenon of societies in an archaic stage, whether still capable of observation or surviving in a fragmentary manner among more modern surroundings or preserved in contemporary records, are brought into line, often with singular felicity, to establish and illustrate the normal process of development in legal and political ideas.
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*Maine, Henry Sumner. ''Ancient Law: Its Connection With the Early History of Society, and Its Relation to Modern Ideas'' (London: John Murray, 1861) Type: English :  Book
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Publisher: Cambridge [England] ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1991
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==Legacy==
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Henry Maine was a brilliant thinker whose ideas not only influenced the fields of [[law]] and legal affairs, but left a mark on [[anthropology]] and comparative [[history]]. Because of his study of the early development of law and the connection between law and [[social status]], Maine can be seen as one of the forefathers of modern [[sociology]] of law.
 +
 
 +
Although many of his ideas on the development of law have been discredited, Maine’s work on the history of [[jurisprudence]] greatly contributed to our understanding of how legal systems developed over time.
 +
 
 +
==Publications==
 +
 
 +
*[1861] 2006. Maine, Henry S. ''Ancient Law''. Book Jungle ISBN 1594623457
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*1866. Maine, Henry S. ''Address delivered to the Senate and graduates of the University of Calcutta''. Baptist Mission Press.
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*1873. Maine, Henry S. ''The early history of the property of married women: As collected from Roman and Hindu law''. (Lecture delivered at Birmingham, March 25, 1873). A. Ireland and Co.
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*1875. Maine, Henry S. ''The effects of observation of India on modern European thought''. (The Rede lecture delivered before the University of Cambridge on May 22, 1875). John Murray.
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*[1875] 2006. Maine, Henry S. ''Lectures on the Early History of Institutions''. Adamant Media Corporation. ISBN 1402172273
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*[1876] 1981. Maine, Henry S. ''Village Communities in the East and West''. Arden Library. ISBN 0849537983
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*[1885] 2004. Maine, Henry S. ''Popular Government: Four Essays''. University Press of the Pacific. ISBN 1410212637
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*[1888] 2005. Maine, Henry S. ''International Law''. Adamant Media Corporation. ISBN 1402199422
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*[1890] 1975. Maine, Henry S. ''Dissertations on early law and custom''. Arno Press. ISBN 0405065221
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*1890. Maine, Henry S. ''Minutes by Sir H.S. Maine, 1862-1969: With a note on Indian codification, dated 17th July 1879''. Superintendent of Govt. Print.
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
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*Raymond Cocks "Sir Henry Maine: A Study in Victorian Jurisprudence" (Cambridge) 1988
 
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*Alan Diamond, ed., "The Victorian achievement of Sir Henry Maine: a centennial reappraisal" (Cambridge) 1991
 
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*George Feaver "From Status to Contract: A Biography of Sir Henry Maine 1822-1888" (London:Longmans Green) 1969
 
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*[[Alfred Comyn Lyall]] and others, in ''Law Quart. Rev.'' iv. 129 seq. (1888)
 
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*[[Sir Frederick Pollock, 3rd Baronet|Sir Frederick Pollock]], "Sir Henry Maine and his Work," in ''Oxford Lectures'', etc. (1890); "Sir H. Maine as a Jurist," Edin. Rev. (July 1893); ''Introduction and Notes to new ad. of Ancient Law'' (1906)
 
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*Sir [[M. E. Grant Duff]], ''Sir Henry Maine: a brief Memoir of his Life, etc.'' (1892); ''Notes from a Diary,'' passim
 
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*[[Leslie Stephen|L Stephen]], " Maine" in ''[[Dictionary of National Biography|Dict. Nat. Biog.]]'' (1893)
 
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*[[Paul Vinogradoff]], ''The Teaching of Sir Henry Maine'' (1904),
 
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*{{1911}}
 
  
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*Cocks, Raymond. 2004. ''Sir Henry Maine: A Study in Victorian Jurisprudence''. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521524962
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*Diamond, Alan. 2006. ''The Victorian Achievement of Sir Henry Maine: A Centennial Reappraisal''. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 052103454X
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*Duff, M. E. Grant. 1979. ''Sir Henry Maine: A Brief Memoir of His Life''. Fred B Rothman & Co. ISBN 0837706092
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*Evans, Morgan O. 1981. ''Theories and Criticism of Sir Henry Maine''. Fred B Rothman & Co. ISBN 0837705401
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*Feaver, George. 1969. ''From Status to Contract: A Biography of Sir Henry Maine 1822-1888''. London: Longmans Green. ISBN 0582502217
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*Orenstein, Henry. [1911] 1968. [http://www.aaanet.org/gad/history/043orenstein.pdf#search='Henry%20Sumner%20Maine' The Ethnological Theories of Henry Sumner Maine1]. ''American Anthropologist''. 70, 264-276.
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==External links==
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All links retrieved December 18, 2017.
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*[http://www.bookrags.com/biography/henry-james-sumner-maine-sir-soc/ ''Henry James Sumner Maine'']. Biography at BookRags.
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*[http://www.ecn.bris.ac.uk/het/maine/index.htm Works of Henry Maine]. Full text of Maine’s Ancient Law, International Law, and Lectures on the Early History of Institutions.
  
  
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{{Credit1|Henry_James_Sumner_Maine|85653356|}}

Latest revision as of 16:54, 18 December 2017


Sir Henry James Sumner Maine (August 15, 1822 – February 3, 1888) was an English comparative jurist and legal historian. Influenced by his experiences in India, Maine compared Eastern and Western ideas, finding common threads in the development of society. His work investigated the early development of law, introducing the notion that societies moved from being bound by social status in their relationships, to independent individuals who were free to make contracts with other individuals. Although many of his ideas on the development of law have been discredited, Maine’s work on the history of jurisprudence greatly contributed to an understanding of how legal systems have developed over time. His emphasis on the social factors involved in legal transactions laid the foundation for later work in the sociology of law, and is valuable in providing insights into the nature of social structure that supports peaceful, harmonious human relationships.

Life

Henry James Sumner Maine was born on August 15, 1822, in Leighton, England, into the family of Dr. James and Eliza Maine. After his parents separated, Henry moved with his mother to Henley-on-Thames, where he spent his childhood. He was educated at Henley and Christ’s Hospital, where he showed great intellectual abilities and earned a scholarship to Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, in 1840.

At Cambridge he was one of the most brilliant classical scholars of his time. He won numerous prizes and medals, among which were the Craven scholarship, Chancellors Senior Classical Medal, and medals in Latin Composition, Greek, and English Verse. He graduated from Cambridge in 1844.

Shortly afterwards Maine accepted a tutorship at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. In 1847, he was appointed regius professor of civil law, and was called to the bar three years later. He remained in Trinity Hall until 1854.

In 1847, Maine fell in love with his cousin, Jane Maine, and married her the same year. The couple had two sons.

The young Maine

In 1852, Maine had become one of the readers appointed by the Inns of Court, teaching Roman law and jurisprudence. Lectures delivered in this capacity served as the groundwork for his masterpiece, Ancient Law, published in 1861, which made him world-famous. Within a year of its publication, a post on the council of the governor-general in India was offered to Maine, then a junior member of the bar with little practice, few advantages of connection, and no political or official claims. Maine declined the first time, on grounds of poor health. However, when the very next year the office was again vacant, Maine was persuaded to accept, not because his health had improved, but that he thought India might not make it much worse.

It turned out that India suited him much better than Cambridge or London. He worked as the adviser to the government, counseling on the wide variety of issues, including the land settlement of the Punjab region, the introduction of civil marriage to provide for the needs of unorthodox Hindus, as well as the question of how far the study of Persian language should be required among European civil servants. Plans of codification were prepared, and largely shaped, under Maine's direction, which were implemented by his successors, James Fitzjames Stephen and Whitley Stokes. All this was in addition to the routine of legislative and consulting work and the establishment of the legislative department of the government of India. He also served as vice-chancellor of the University of Calcutta. Maine stayed in India for five years and was asked to prolong his services beyond the regular term. He returned to England in 1869.

In 1869, Maine was appointed to the chair of historical and comparative jurisprudence newly founded in the University of Oxford at Corpus Christi College. Residence at Oxford was not required, and the election amounted to an invitation to the new professor to resume and continue in his own way the work he had begun in Ancient Law. During the succeeding years Maine published the principal matters of his lectures in a carefully revised literary form: Village Communities in the East and the West (1871); Early History of Institutions (1875); Early Law and Custom (1883).

Maine became a member of the secretary of state's council in 1871, and remained so for the rest of his life. In the same year he was appointed a Knight Commander (KCSI) of Order of the Star of India.

In 1877, the mastership of the Trinity Hall, Cambridge, became vacant and Maine was invited to accept the post. His acceptance entailed the resignation of the Oxford chair, though not continuous residence at Cambridge. Ten years later, he was elected to succeed Sir William Harcourt as Whewell professor of international law at Cambridge. His brilliant performance in this office was represented by a posthumous volume, International Law (1888).

Maine's health, which had never been strong, gave way towards the end of 1887. He went to the French Riviera under medical advice, and died at Cannes on February 3, 1888. He left a wife, Jane, and two sons, of whom the elder died soon afterwards.

Work

Henry Maine’s most important work was his 1861 Ancient Law. In it, he compared legal systems of primitive societies, ancient Rome, European countries, and India, in order to find some general principles of law. As Maine put it in the preface, the purpose of his book was:

… to indicate some of the earliest ideas of mankind, as they are reflected in ancient law, and to point out the relation of those ideas to modern thought (Ancient Law, 1861)

Maine introduced the idea that law and society developed "from status to contract." In ancient times, individuals were bound by social status and/or belonging to traditional social castes. On the other side, in the modern world, people were regarded as independent entities, free to make contracts on their own. Maine saw Roman law as the intermediate stage between ancient customs and modern British law. He believed that in ancient times legal bonds were firmly connected with customs rooted in the patriarchal family system. In that system all the goods, including land and the means of production, were the property of a family, and private property was practically non-existent. It was only in more recent times, with the development of settlements and later towns, that society started to apply principles of private property and depend on contract as means of creating larger and more complex relationships.

Maine did not approve of the idea that law actually progressed throughout human history, and that democracy was a superior form of government. Maine had published, in 1885, his work of speculative politics, a volume of essays on Popular Government, designed to show that democracy was not in itself more stable than any other form of government, and that there was no necessary connection between democracy and progress. The book was deliberately unpopular in tone; it excited much controversial comment and some serious discussion. He wrote:

… the inquiry into the history of these [political] institutions, and the attempt to estimate their true value by the results of such an inquiry, are seriously embarrassed by a mass of ideas and beliefs which have grown up in our day on the subject of one particular form of government, that extreme form of popular government which is called Democracy. … [These ideas and beliefs] are well known to have sprung from the teaching of Jean Jacques Rousseau, who believed that men emerged from the primitive natural condition by a process which made every form of government, except Democracy, illegitimate. … Democracy is commonly described as having an inherent superiority over every other form of government. … It is thought to be full of the promise of blessings to mankind; yet if it fails to bring with it these blessings, or even proves to be prolific of the heaviest calamities, it is not held to deserve condemnation. These are the familiar marks of a theory which claims to be independent of experience and observations (Popular Government, 1885).

Many believed that Maine particularly resented late Victorian mass democracy, and advocated instead laissez-faire economic individualism.

Living for more than seven years in India, Maine came in contact with Eastern ideas, and was able to compare them to Western thought. His Village Communities in the East and the West (1871); Early History of Institutions (1875); Early Law and Custom (1883) compared those two systems of thought, finding numerous similar points. In all these works the phenomenon of societies in an archaic stage, whether still capable of observation or surviving in a fragmentary manner among more modern surroundings or preserved in contemporary records, are brought into line, often with singular felicity, to establish and illustrate the normal process of development in legal and political ideas.

Legacy

Henry Maine was a brilliant thinker whose ideas not only influenced the fields of law and legal affairs, but left a mark on anthropology and comparative history. Because of his study of the early development of law and the connection between law and social status, Maine can be seen as one of the forefathers of modern sociology of law.

Although many of his ideas on the development of law have been discredited, Maine’s work on the history of jurisprudence greatly contributed to our understanding of how legal systems developed over time.

Publications

  • [1861] 2006. Maine, Henry S. Ancient Law. Book Jungle ISBN 1594623457
  • 1866. Maine, Henry S. Address delivered to the Senate and graduates of the University of Calcutta. Baptist Mission Press.
  • 1873. Maine, Henry S. The early history of the property of married women: As collected from Roman and Hindu law. (Lecture delivered at Birmingham, March 25, 1873). A. Ireland and Co.
  • 1875. Maine, Henry S. The effects of observation of India on modern European thought. (The Rede lecture delivered before the University of Cambridge on May 22, 1875). John Murray.
  • [1875] 2006. Maine, Henry S. Lectures on the Early History of Institutions. Adamant Media Corporation. ISBN 1402172273
  • [1876] 1981. Maine, Henry S. Village Communities in the East and West. Arden Library. ISBN 0849537983
  • [1885] 2004. Maine, Henry S. Popular Government: Four Essays. University Press of the Pacific. ISBN 1410212637
  • [1888] 2005. Maine, Henry S. International Law. Adamant Media Corporation. ISBN 1402199422
  • [1890] 1975. Maine, Henry S. Dissertations on early law and custom. Arno Press. ISBN 0405065221
  • 1890. Maine, Henry S. Minutes by Sir H.S. Maine, 1862-1969: With a note on Indian codification, dated 17th July 1879. Superintendent of Govt. Print.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Cocks, Raymond. 2004. Sir Henry Maine: A Study in Victorian Jurisprudence. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521524962
  • Diamond, Alan. 2006. The Victorian Achievement of Sir Henry Maine: A Centennial Reappraisal. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 052103454X
  • Duff, M. E. Grant. 1979. Sir Henry Maine: A Brief Memoir of His Life. Fred B Rothman & Co. ISBN 0837706092
  • Evans, Morgan O. 1981. Theories and Criticism of Sir Henry Maine. Fred B Rothman & Co. ISBN 0837705401
  • Feaver, George. 1969. From Status to Contract: A Biography of Sir Henry Maine 1822-1888. London: Longmans Green. ISBN 0582502217
  • Orenstein, Henry. [1911] 1968. The Ethnological Theories of Henry Sumner Maine1. American Anthropologist. 70, 264-276.

External links

All links retrieved December 18, 2017.


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