Oxford Dictionary of Sociology

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Maine, Sir Henry James Sumner

Maine, Sir Henry James Sumner (1822–88)
Sir Henry Maine was a pioneer of comparative jurisprudence. Like Lewis Henry Morgan, he was convinced that the legal basis of ‘primitive societies’ lay in ties of blood and kinship. In his two best-known works, Ancient Law (1861) and Popular Government (1885), he argued for the evolutionist proposition that the history of human societies showed a progressive move from societies based on status ascribed through kin ties to advanced politics based on legally binding agreements (or ‘contract’). See also tribe.

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