Henry James Sumner Maine - Ancient Law (1861)

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It is true that the aristocracies seem to have abused their monopoly of legal knowledge and at all events their exclusive possession of the law was a formidable impediment to the success of those popular movements which began to be universal in the western world.

Henry James Sumner Maine
The most superficial student of Roman history must be struck by the extraordinary degree in which the fortunes of the republic were affected by the presence of foreigners, under different names, on her soil.

Henry James Sumner Maine
The inquiries of the jurist are in truth prosecuted much as inquiry in physic and physiology was prosecuted before observation had taken the place of assumption.

Henry James Sumner Maine
Our authorities leave us no doubt that the trust lodged with the oligarchy was sometimes abused, but it certainly ought not to be regarded as a mere usurpation or engine of tyranny.

Henry James Sumner Maine
When primitive law has once been embodied in a Code, there is an end to what may be called its spontaneous development.

Henry James Sumner Maine
The ancient codes were doubtless originally suggested by the discovery and diffusion of the art of writing.

Henry James Sumner Maine
The movement of the progressive societies has hitherto been a movement from Status to Contract.

Henry James Sumner Maine
Law is stable the societies we are speaking of are progressive. The greater or less happiness of a people depends on the degree of promptitude with which the gulf is narrowed.

Henry James Sumner Maine
The epoch of Customary Law, and of its custody by a privileged order, is a very remarkable one.

Henry James Sumner Maine
The Roman jurisprudence has the longest known history of any set of human institutions.

Henry James Sumner Maine
In spite of overwhelming evidence, it is most difficult for a citizen of western Europe to bring thoroughly home to himself the truth that the civilisation which surrounds him is a rare exception in the history of the world.

Henry James Sumner Maine
The members of such a society consider that the transgression of a religious ordinance should be punished by civil penalties, and that the violation of a civil duty exposes the delinquent to divine correction.

Henry James Sumner Maine
The Roman Code was merely an enunciation in words of the existing customs of the Roman people.

Henry James Sumner Maine