The members of such a society consider that the transgression of a religious ordinance should be punished by civil penalties, and that the violation of a civil duty exposes the delinquent to divine correction.

quote by Henry James Sumner Maine
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

In spite of overwhelming evidence, it is most difficult for a citizen of western Europe to bring thoroughly home to himself the truth that the civilisation which surrounds him is a rare exception in the history of the world.

quote by Henry James Sumner Maine
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

The ancient Roman code belongs to a class of which almost every civilised nation in the world can show a sample, and which, so far as the Roman and Hellenic worlds were concerned, were largely diffused over them at epochs not widely distant from one another.

quote by Henry James Sumner Maine
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

It is true that the aristocracies seem to have abused their monopoly of legal knowledge; and at all events their exclusive possession of the law was a formidable impediment to the success of those popular movements which began to be universal in the western world.

quote by Henry James Sumner Maine
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!