Ancient Law | Page 5

writer who had subjected the theories of the Social Contract to such
merciless criticism sighed for a scientific analysis of political terms as
the first step to clear thinking about politics. Here he was on strong
ground, but for such an analysis we have yet to wait.[4] He seems to
have placed his hopes in the adoption of some kind of written
constitution which, like the American prototype, would safeguard us
from fundamental changes by the caprice of a single assembly. But this
is not the place to pursue such highly debateable matters. Enough if we
say that the man who wishes to serve an apprenticeship to an intelligent
understanding of the political society of the present cannot do better
than begin by a careful study of Maine's researches into the political
society of the past.
J.H. MORGAN.
Note.--The reader who desires to study Maine in the light of modern
criticism is recommended to read Sir F. Pollock's "Notes on Maine's
Ancient Law" (published by John Murray at 2s. 6d., or, with the text, at
5s.). The best short study of Maine with which I am acquainted is the
article by Professor Vinogradoff in the Law Quarterly Review for April
1904. The field of research covered by Maine in his various writings is
so vast that it is impossible to refer the reader, except at great length, to
anything like an adequate list of later books on the subjects of his
investigation. In addition to the works on the Village Community
mentioned in a previous footnote, I may, however, refer the beginner to
Mr. Edward Jenks' little book on The History of Politics in Dent's
Primers, to Professor Ashley's translation of a fragment of Fustel de

Coulanges under the title of The Origin of Property in Land, and to Sir
Frederick Pollock's brilliant little book, The Expansion of the Common
Law. The reader is also recommended to study Mr. H.A.L. Fisher's
succinct survey of the contributions of Maitland to legal history under
the title of F.W. Maitland; an Appreciation (Cambridge University
Press). One of the most brilliant and ingenious studies of the origins of
European civilisation is to be found in the work of the great German
jurist, Ihering, Die Vorgeschichte der Indo-Europder, translated into
English under the title of The Early History of the Indo-European
Races (Sonnenschein, 1897).
[1] The reader who desires to pursue the subject by reference to one of
Maine's chief authorities is recommended to read the translation of the
Institutes by Sandars.
[2] English literature on the subject is best studied in Maitland's
Domesday Book and Beyond, Vinogradoff's The Growth of the Manor
and Villeinage in England (with an excellent historical introduction),
and Seebohm's English Village Community.
[3] Witness the characteristic sentence: "On the whole they [i.e. the
studies of earlier society] suggest that the differences which, after ages
of change, separate the civilised man from savage or barbarian, are not
so great as the vulgar opinion would have them.... Like the savage, he
is a man of party with a newspaper for a totem ... and like a savage he
is apt to make of his totem his God."
[4] Something of the kind was done many years ago by Sir George
Cornewall Lewis in his little book on the Use and Abuse of Political
Terms. I have attempted to carry the task a step farther in an article
which appeared in the form of a review of Lord Morley's "History and
Politics" in the Nineteenth Century for March 1913.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Navis ornate atque armata in aquam deducitur (Prize Poem), 1842; The

Birth of the Prince of Wales (Prize Poem), 1842; Cæsar ad Rubiconem
constitit (Prize Poem), 1842; Memoir of H.F. Hallam, 1851; Roman
Law and Legal Education (Essay), 1856; Ancient Law: its Connection
with the Early History of Society and its Relation to Modern Ideas,
1861; Short Essays and Reviews on the Educational Policy of the
Government of India, 1866; Village Communities in the East and West
(Lectures), 1871; The Early History of the Property of Married Women
as collected from Roman and Hindoo Law (Lecture), 1873; The Effects
of Observation of India on Modern European Thought (Lecture), 1875;
Lectures on the Early History of Institutions, 1875; Village
Communities, etc.; third ed. with other Lectures and Addresses, 1876;
Dissertations on Early Law and Custom (selected from Lectures), 1883;
Popular Government (four Essays), 1885; India [1837-1887] (in "The
Reign of Queen Victoria," ed. by Thos. Humphry Ward, vol. i.), 1887;
The Whewell Lectures: International Law, 1887, 1888; Ancient Law
(ed. with introduction and notes by Sir Frederick Pollock), 1906;
Ancient Law (Allahabad ed., with introduction by K.C. Banerji), 1912.
Contributions to: "Morning Chronicle," 1851; "Cornhill Magazine,"
1871; "Quarterly Review," 1886; "Saturday Review," and "St. James's
Gazette."
A brief memoir of the life of Sir Henry