The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ancient Law, by Sir Henry James Sumner Maine

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Title: Ancient Law
Its Connection to the History of Early Society

Author: Sir Henry James Sumner Maine

Release Date: October 7, 2007 [EBook #22910]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANCIENT LAW ***

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Everyman, I will go with thee, and be thy guide,
In thy most need to go by thy side.

This is No. 734 of Everyman's Library. A
list of authors and their works in this series
will be found at the end of this volume. The
publishers will be pleased to send freely to all
applicants a separate, annotated list of the
Library.

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HISTORY

ANCIENT LAW

BY SIR HENRY JAMES SUMNER MAINE

INTRODUCTION BY PROF. J. H. MORGAN

SIR HENRY JAMES SUMNER MAINE, the
son of a doctor, born 1822 in India. Educated
at Christ's Hospital and Pembroke College,
Cambridge. In 1847 professor of civil law
at Cambridge; 1850, called to the Bar.
Member of Indian Council for seven years.

Died at Cannes, 1888.

ANCIENT LAW

[Illustration]

SIR HENRY MAINE

LONDON: J. M. DENT & SONS LTD.
NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO. INC.

_All rights reserved
Made in Great Britain
at The Temple Press Letchworth
and decorated by Eric Ravilious
for
J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd.
Aldine House Bedford St. London
First Published in this Edition 1917
Reprinted 1927, 1931, 1936_

INTRODUCTION

No one who is interested in the growth of human ideas or the origins
of human society can afford to neglect Maine's _Ancient Law_.
Published some fifty-six years ago it immediately took rank as a
classic, and its epoch-making influence may not unfitly be compared to
that exercised by Darwin's _Origin of Species_. The revolution
effected by the lat