Henry James Sumner Maine
Sir Henry James Sumner Maine ( born August 15, 1822 in Kelso, Scottish Borders, Scotland, † February 4, 1888 in Cannes, France) was a British anthropologist, lawyer and legal historian, an important contribution to the codification of Indian law under the English colonial rule made . Today he is considered the founder of the sociology of law and legal anthropology.
Life
Maine was in 1847 a lawyer and professor at the University of Cambridge, where he also lectured on the Inns of Court ( guilds of lawyers). This work arose from his main work Ancient Law (1861 ).
From 1863-69 he participated as a member of the Government of India participated in the preparatory work for a codification of the law, in 1869 he became professor of history and comparative law at Oxford, 1877 Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, 1887 Whewell Professor of International Law there.
His conception of the legal-historical development is characterized by the slogan From status to contract ( "From Status to Contract" ), ie from the medieval feudal society to the liberal bourgeois society. His political views were anti-democratic.
Among the recipients of his work include Ferdinand Tönnies and the late Karl Marx.
Works
- Ancient Law (1861, new edition of Sir Frederick Pollock 1906; Neudruch 1930; (online) ). The old law: its connection with the early history of society and its relation to modern ideas. ( Ancient law, dt ) Eds. and trans. by Heiko Dahle. Baden -Baden: Nomos Verl -Ges. 1997; ISBN 3-7890-4774-0
- The volksthümliche government. (Popular Government, dt ) Translator's Paul Friedmann. Authorized German edition. Berlin: Springer, 1887 ( online ( Fr. ) )