Ancient Law

Best known as a history of progress <strong>Ancient Law</strong> is the enduring work of the19thcentury legal historian Henry Sumner Maine. Even those who have ... » 

Best known as a history of progress Ancient Law is the enduring work of the19thcentury legal historian Henry Sumner Maine. Even those who have never readAncient Law may find Maines famous phrase from status to contract familiar.His narrative spans the ancient world in which individuals were tightly boundby status to traditional groups and the modern one in which individuals areviewed as autonomous beings free to make contracts and form associations withwhomever they choose.Maines dichotomy between statusbased societies and contractbased societiesis a variation on a theme that has absorbed the social sciences for a centurythe distinction between Gemeinschaft community and Gesellschaft society.This theme has been elaborated upon by such eminent scholars as TonniesDurkheim Weber Simmel and Parsons. Along with many lesser scholars theyhave considered what we gained and what we lost when we left behind a socialworld held together by communal primordial bonds and adopted one based uponimpersonal temporary agreements among individuals.Maine wrote Ancient Law to increase knowledge about the internal mechanics ofdeveloping societies. He felt a key objective was better understanding of howlaw develops over time. Failure to understand temporal processes in relation tolegal development he argues leads to the creation of false dichotomies. Themost important of these is the alleged division between the ancient and themodern which Maine described as an imaginary barrier at which modernscholars feel they must stop and go no further. Maines desire to breach thisbarrier led him to present this complex and richly nuanced analysis of legalevolution.This book will be of interest to historians political philosophersand those interested in the development of law. «