ANCIENT LAW:
ITS CONNECTION WITH THE EARLY HISTORY
OF SOCIETY AND ITS RELATION
TO MODERN IDEAS. <...> BY
SIR HENRY SUMNER MAINE, K.C.S.I. LL.D. F.R.S.
FORMERLY CORPUS PROFESSOR OF JURISPRUDENCE
IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. <...> WHILE further reflection and research have not led the Author of this work to alter his views on
most of the matters of which it treats, he has convinced himself that the opinions expressed in the First
Chapter on the difficult and still obscure subject of the origin of Customary Law require correction and
modification. <...> The Second and Third Editions of this work have been substantially reprints of the First. <...> It may perhaps be interesting
to the reader to observe the bearing of the changes which have taken place on the argument of that part
of the work. <...> THE CHIEF OBJECT of the following pages is 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. <...> Much
of the inquiry attempted could not have been prosecuted with the slightest hope of a useful result if
there had not existed a body of law, like that of the Romans, bearing in its earlier portions the traces of
the most remote antiquity and supplying from its later rules the staple of the civil institutions by which
modern society is even now controlled. <...> The necessity of taking the Roman law as a typical system, has
compelled the Author to draw from it what may appear a disproportionate number of his illustrations;
but it has not been his intention to write a treatise on a Roman jurisprudence, and he has as much as
possible avoided all discussions which might give that appearance to his work. <...> The space allotted in the
Third and Fourth Chapters to certain philosophical theories of the Roman Jurisconsults, has been
appropriated to them for two reasons. <...> THE most celebrated system of jurisprudence known to the world begins, as it ends, with a
Code. <...> From the commencement to the close of its history, the expositors of Roman Law consistently
employed language which implied that the body of their system rested on the Twelve Decemviral
Tables, and therefore on a basis of written law. <...> The theoretical descent of Roman jurisprudence from a code,
the theoretical ascription of English law to immemorial unwritten tradition <...>
Ancient_law_its_connection_with_the_early_history_of_society_and_its_relation_to_modern_ideas.pdf
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
VILLAGE COMMUNITIES IN THE EAST AND WEST.
Third Edition. 8vo. 12s.
THE EARLY HISTORY OF INSTITUTIONS.
Third Edition. 8vo. 12s.
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ANCIENT LAW:
ITS CONNECTION WITH THE EARLY HISTORY
OF SOCIETY AND ITS RELATION
TO MODERN IDEAS.
BY
SIR HENRY SUMNER MAINE, K.C.S.I. LL.D. F.R.S.
FORMERLY CORPUS PROFESSOR OF JURISPRUDENCE
IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.
EIGHTH EDITION.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1880.
The right of translation is reserved.
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CONTENTS
PREFACE to THE FIFTH EDITION. ....................................................................................................... i
PREFACE to THE THIRD EDITION. ................................................................................................... ii
PREFACE to THE FIRST EDITION. .....................................................................................................iii
CHAPTER I. ANCIENT CODES............................................................................................................. 1
CHAPTER II. LEGAL FICTIONS. .......................................................................................................... 7
CHAPTER III. LAW OF NATURE AND EQUITY.............................................................................. 14
CHAPTER IV. THE MODERN HISTORY OF THE LAW OF NATURE........................................... 23
CHAPTER V. PRIMITIVE SOCIETY AND ANCIENT LAW. .......................................................... 35
CHAPTER VI. THE EARLY HISTORY OF TESTAMENTARY SUCCESSION. ............................. 53
CHAPTER VII. ANCIENT AND MODERN IDEAS RESPECTING
WILLS AND SUCCESSIONS. ................................................................................................. 66
CHAPTER VIII. THE EARLY HISTORY OF PROPERTY................................................................. 75
CHAPTER IX. THE EARLY HISTORY OF CONTRACT. ................................................................. 93
CHAPTER X. THE EARLY HISTORY OF DELICT AND CRIME.................................................. 112
INDEX................................................................................................................................................... 122
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PREFACE
to
THE FIFTH EDITION.
WHILE further reflection and research have not led the Author of this work to alter his views on
most of the matters of which it treats, he has convinced himself that the opinions expressed in the First
Chapter on the difficult and still obscure subject of the origin of Customary Law require correction and
modification. He has attempted to supply a part of the necessary corrections and modifications in a
volume called "Village Communities in the East and West" (London: Murray, 1871).
H. S. M.
LONDON: December 1873.
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