MichaelWhite3 at 01:15, 20 April 2026

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{{Distinguish|Henry James|Sumner, Maine}}
{{Short description|British jurist and historian (1822–1888)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2012}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Sir Henry Maine
| image = HSMaine.jpg
| caption = The young Maine
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1822|08|15}}
| birth_place = [[Kelso, Scotland]], [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|UK]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1888|02|03|1822|08|15}}
| death_place = [[Cannes]], [[French Third Republic|France]]
| resting_place_coordinates = 
| fields = [[History]], [[law]]
| workplaces = [[University of Oxford]]<br />[[University of Cambridge]]<br />[[University of Calcutta]]
| alma_mater = [[Pembroke College, Cambridge]]
| title = [[Professor of Jurisprudence (Oxford)|Corpus Professor of Jurisprudence at Oxford University]]; [[Whewell Professor of International Law]]
| predecessor = [[William Harcourt (politician)|William Harcourt]]
| successor = [[John Westlake (law scholar)|John Westlake]]
| notable_students =
| known_for =
| influences =
| influenced =
| awards =
| signature = Signature of Sir Henry James Sumner Maine.jpg
| signature_alt =
| spouse =
}}
'''Sir Henry James Sumner Maine''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|KCSI|FRS|sep=,|size=100}} (15 August 1822 – 3 February 1888), was a British [[Whiggism|Whig]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bevir |first1=Mark |title=Historicism and the Human Sciences in Victorian Britain |date=2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=5}}</ref> [[comparative jurisprudence|comparative jurist]]<ref>Pollock, Frederick (1893). [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.32106019608139;view=1up;seq=112 "Sir H. Maine as a Jurist,"] ''The Edinburgh Review,'' Vol. 178, pp. 100–121.</ref> and [[historian]].{{sfn|Pollock|1911|p=432}} He is famous for the thesis outlined in his book ''[[Ancient Law]]'' that law and society developed "from status to contract."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maine |first=Henry |year=1861 |title= Ancient Law, Its Connection with the Early History of Society, and Its Relation to Modern Ideas |publisher=John Murray |place=London |edition= 1 |page= [https://archive.org/details/ancientlawitsco18maingoog/page/n182 170] |url= https://archive.org/details/ancientlawitsco18maingoog }}</ref> According to the thesis, in the ancient world individuals were tightly bound by status dealing with(in) a particular group while in the modern one, in which individuals are viewed as autonomous agents, they are free to make contracts and form associations with whomever they choose. Because of this thesis, Maine can be seen as one of the forefathers of modern [[legal anthropology]], [[legal history]] and [[sociology of law]].

==Early life==
Maine was the son of Dr. James Maine, of [[Kelso, Scottish Borders|Kelso]], [[Roxburghshire]]. He was educated at [[Christ's Hospital]], where a boarding house was named after him in 1902, being the 7th block on the avenue, and 3rd on the East Side. From there he went up to [[Pembroke College, Cambridge]], in 1840. At Cambridge, he was noted as a classical scholar and also won the [[Chancellor's Gold Medal]] for poetry in 1842.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Complete Collection of the English Poems which Have Obtained the Chancellor's Gold Medal in the University of Cambridge|publisher=W. Metcalfe|location=Cambridge|url=https://archive.org/details/acompletecollec00cambgoog|author=University of Cambridge|format=PDF|year=1859|access-date=1 October 2008}}</ref> He won a Craven scholarship and graduated as senior classic in 1844, being also senior chancellor's medallist in classics.{{sfn|Pollock|1911|p=432}}<ref>{{acad|id=MN840HJ|name=Maine, Henry James Sumner}}</ref> He was a [[Cambridge Apostle]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ryan |first1=Alan |title=The Voice from the Hearth-Rug |url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v21/n21/alan-ryan/the-voice-from-the-hearth-rug |website=London Review of Books |language=en |date=28 October 1999}}</ref>

Shortly afterwards, he accepted a tutorship at [[Trinity Hall, Cambridge|Trinity Hall]]. In 1847, he was appointed [[Regius Professor of Civil Law (Cambridge)|Regius Professor of Civil Law]],<ref>[http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101050585924;view=1up;seq=388 "Henry James Sumner Maine,"] ''Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,'' Vol. 23, 1887–1888, p. 356. [https://archive.org/stream/proceedingsofame23amer#page/356/mode/2up via – Internet Archive]</ref> and he was called to the bar three years later; he held this chair until 1854. Meanwhile, in 1852 he had become one of the readers appointed by the [[Inns of Court]].{{sfn|Pollock|1911|p=432}}

==In India==
[[Image:John Lawrence's Executive Council 1864.jpg|thumb|right|280px|Maine, sitting second from right, with [[John Lawrence, 1st Baron Lawrence|John Lawrence]], Viceroy of India and other council members and secretaries in Simla, India, by Bourne & Shepherd, circa 1864.]]

The post of legal member of council in [[India]] was offered to Maine in 1861; he declined it once, on grounds of health. The following year Maine was persuaded to accept, and it turned out that India suited him much better than Cambridge or London. He was asked to prolong his services beyond the regular term of five years, and he returned to England in 1869.{{sfn|Pollock|1911|p=432}}

The subjects on which it was Maine's duty to advise the government of India were as much political as legal. They ranged from such problems as the land settlement of the [[Punjab region|Punjab]], or the [[Special Marriage Act, 1954|introduction of civil marriage]] to provide for the needs of unorthodox [[Hindu]]s, to the question of how far the study of [[Persian language|Persian]] should be required or encouraged among European civil servants. Plans of codification were prepared, and largely shaped, under Maine's direction, which were implemented by his successors, [[James Fitzjames Stephen|Sir James Fitzjames Stephen]] and [[Whitley Stokes (scholar)|Dr Whitley Stokes]].{{sfn|Pollock|1911|p=432}}

Maine became a member of the [[Council of India#Members|Secretary of State's council]] in 1871 and remained so for the rest of his life.{{sfn|Pollock|1911|p=432}} In the same year he was gazetted a [[Order of the Star of India|K.C.S.I.]]<ref>{{London Gazette|issue= 23739|page=2474|date=20 May 1871}}</ref>

==Oxford professor==
In 1869, Maine was appointed to the [[Professor of Jurisprudence (University of Oxford)|chair of historical and comparative jurisprudence]] newly founded in the [[University of Oxford]] by [[Corpus Christi College, Oxford|Corpus Christi College]].<ref>Grant Duff, M.E (1892). [https://archive.org/stream/sirhenrymainebri00main#page/n9/mode/2up ''Sir Henry Maine: A Brief Memoir of his Life'']. London: John Murray, p. 36.</ref> Residence at Oxford was not required, and the election amounted to an invitation to the new professor to resume and continue in his own way the work he had begun in ''Ancient Law''.{{sfn|Pollock|1911|p=433}}

==Cambridge professor==
In 1877, the mastership of [[Trinity Hall, Cambridge]], where Maine had formerly been tutor, became vacant. There were two strong candidates whose claims were so nearly equal that it was difficult to elect either; the difficulty was solved by a unanimous invitation to Maine to accept the post. His acceptance entailed the resignation of the Oxford chair, though not continuous residence at Cambridge. Ten years later, he was elected to succeed [[William Vernon Harcourt (politician)|Sir William Harcourt]] as [[Whewell Professor of International Law]] at Cambridge.{{sfn|Pollock|1911|p=433}}

In 1886, he was elected as a member to the [[American Philosophical Society]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=1886&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=24 May 2021|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>

==Death==
Maine's health, which had never been strong, gave way towards the end of 1887. He went to the Riviera under medical advice, and died at [[Cannes]], France, on 3 February 1888. He left a wife, Jane, and two sons, of whom the elder died soon afterwards.{{sfn|Pollock|1911|p=433}} An oil portrait of Jane remains in the possession of their descendants.<ref>{{cite web |title=Seeking Sir Henry in British Columbia |url=http://democracystreet.blogspot.com/2011/06/find-in.html |website=Democracy Street |access-date=4 March 2020 |date=26 June 2011}}</ref>

==Works==
[[Image:Maine by Dickinson.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Sir Henry James Sumner Maine, by [[Lowes Cato Dickinson]], 1888.]]
Maine wrote journalism in 1851 for the ''[[Morning Chronicle]]'', edited by [[John Douglas Cook]]. With Cook and others, in 1855, he then founded and edited the ''[[Saturday Review (London)|Saturday Review]]'', writing for it to 1861.<ref>{{Cite ODNB|id=17808|title=Maine, Sir Henry James Sumner|first=R. C. J.|last=Cocks}}</ref> Like his close friend [[James Fitzjames Stephen]], he enjoyed occasional article-writing, and never quite abandoned it.{{sfn|Pollock|1911|p=433}}

Maine contributed to the ''Cambridge Essays'' an essay on Roman law and legal education, republished in the later editions of ''Village Communities''. Lectures delivered by Maine for the Inns of Court were the groundwork of ''[[Ancient Law]]'' (1861), the book by which his reputation was made at one stroke. Its object, as stated in the preface, was "to indicate some of the earliest ideas of mankind, as they are reflected in ancient law, and to point out the relation of those ideas to modern thought." He published the substance of his Oxford lectures: ''Village Communities in the East and the West'' (1871); ''Early History of Institutions'' (1875); ''Early Law and Custom'' (1883). In all these works, the phenomena of societies in an archaic stage are brought into line to illustrate the process of development in legal and political ideas{{sfn|Pollock|1911|p=433}} (see [[freedom of contract]]).

As vice-chancellor of the [[University of Calcutta]], Maine commented on the results produced by the contact of Eastern and Western thought. Three of these addresses were published, wholly or in part, in the later editions of ''Village Communities''; the substance of others is in the [[Rede lecture]] of 1875, in the same volume. An essay on India was his contribution to the composite work entitled ''The Reign of Queen Victoria''{{sfn|Pollock|1911|p=433}} (editor [[Thomas Humphry Ward]], 1887).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maine |first=Henry |year=1887 |chapter= India |title=The Reign of Queen Victoria, A Survey of Fifty Years of Progress (Thomas Ward ed.) |publisher=Smith, Elder & CO. |place=London |volume= I |chapter-url= https://archive.org/stream/reignqueenvicto01wardgoog#page/n480/mode/2up |pages= 460–558 }}</ref>

His brief work in international law is represented by the posthumous volume ''International Law'' (1888). Maine had published in 1885 his one work of speculative politics, a volume of essays on ''Popular Government'', designed to show that democracy is not in itself more stable than any other form of government and that there is no necessary connexion between democracy and progress.{{sfn|Pollock|1911|p=433}}

In 1886, there appeared in the ''Quarterly Review'' an article on the posthumous work of [[J. F. McLennan]], edited and completed by his brother, entitled "The Patriarchal Theory".<ref>Maine, Henry (1886). [https://archive.org/stream/quarterlyreview125smitgoog#page/n193/mode/2up "The Patriarchal Theory,"] ''The Quarterly Review,'' Vol. 162, pp. 181–209.</ref> The article, though unsigned by the rule of the ''Quarterly'' at the time, was Maine's reply to the McLennan brothers' attack on the historical reconstruction of the Indo-European family system put forward in ''Ancient Law'' and supplemented in ''Early Law and Custom''. Maine charged McLennan in his theory of [[Urgesellschaft|primitive society]] with neglecting and misunderstanding of the Indo-European evidence.{{sfn|Pollock|1911|p=433}}

A summary of Maine's writings was in [[Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff|Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff]]'s memoir.{{sfn|Pollock|1911|p=433}}

===Selected publications===
* [https://archive.org/stream/ancientlawitsco18maingoog#page/n6/mode/2up ''Ancient Law: Its Connection with the Early History of Society, and Its Relation to Modern Ideas.''] London: John Murray, 1861.
* [https://archive.org/stream/villagecommunit00mainuoft#page/n9/mode/2up ''Village-Communities in the East and West.''] London: John Murray, 1871.
* [https://archive.org/stream/earlyhistoryofpr00main#page/n3/mode/2up ''The Early History of the Property of Married Women.''] Manchester: A. Ireland and Co., 1873.
* [https://archive.org/stream/lecturesonearlyh00mainuoft#page/n9/mode/2up ''Lectures on the Early History of Institutions.''] New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1875.
* [https://archive.org/stream/dissertationson01maingoog#page/n6/mode/2up ''Dissertations on Early Law and Custom: Chiefly Selected from Lectures Delivered at Oxford.''] London: John Murray, 1883.
* [https://archive.org/stream/cu31924096776269#page/n7/mode/2up ''Popular Government: Four Essays.''] London: John Murray, 1885.
* [https://archive.org/stream/internationallaw00mainiala#page/n7/mode/2up ''International Law: A Series of Lectures Delivered Before the University of Cambridge, 1887.''] London: John Murray, 1888.
* [https://archive.org/stream/platoapoembysir00mainrich#page/n3/mode/2up ''Plato: A Poem.''] Cambridge: Privately Printed, 1894.

===Selected articles===
* [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000070083914;view=1up;seq=61 "Mr. Fitzjames Stephen's Introduction to the Indian Evidence Act,"] ''The Fortnightly Review'', Vol. XIX, 1873.
* [https://archive.org/stream/twentiethcentur24unkngoog#page/n808/mode/2up "South Slavonians and Rajpoots,"] ''The Nineteenth Century'', Vol. II, 1877.
* [https://archive.org/stream/fortnightlyrevi00moregoog#page/n153/mode/2up "The King and his Successor,"] ''The Fortnightly Review'', Vol. XXXVII, 1882.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{EB1911 |author-link=Sir Frederick Pollock, 3rd Baronet |first=Frederick |last=Pollock |wstitle=Maine, Sir Henry James Sumner |volume= 17 | pages = 432–433 }}
* {{cite DNB |last=Stephen |first=Leslie |author-link=Leslie Stephen |wstitle=Maine, Henry James Sumner|volume=35 }}

==Further reading==
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Carey |first=George |editor-first=Ronald |editor-last=Hamowy |editor-link=Ronald Hamowy |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism |chapter= Maine, Henry Sumner (1822–1888) |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=yxNgXs3TkJYC |year=2008 |publisher= [[SAGE Publishing|Sage]]; [[Cato Institute]] |location= Thousand Oaks, CA |doi=10.4135/9781412965811.n189 |isbn= 978-1412965804 |oclc=750831024| lccn = 2008009151 |page=314 |url-access=subscription }}
* Cassani, Anselmo (2002), ''Diritto, antropologia e storia: studi su Henry Sumner Maine'', prefazione di Vincenzo Ferrari, Bologna, Clueb.
* Chakravarty-Kaul, Minoti (1996). ''Common Lands and Customary Law: Institutional Change in North India over the Past Two Centuries,'' Oxford University Press.
* Cocks, Raymond (1988). ''Sir Henry Maine: A Study in Victorian Jurisprudence.'' Cambridge University Press.
* Cotterrell, Roger (2003). ''The Politics of Jurisprudence: A Critical Introduction to Legal Philosophy''. Oxford University Press, pp. 40–48.
* Deflem, Mathieu (2023). [https://deflem.blogspot.com/2023/02/sir-henry.html "Maine, (Sir) Henry (1822–1888)."] In The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, Second Edition, edited by George Ritzer and Chris Rojek. Wiley-Blackwell.
* Diamond, Alan. ed. (2006). ''The Victorian Achievement of Sir Henry Maine: A Centennial Reappraisal.'' Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0521400236|052103454X}}
* Feaver, George (1969). ''From Status to Contract: A Biography of Sir Henry Maine 1822–1888.'' London: Longmans Green.
* Hamza, Gabor (1991): Sir Henry Maine et le droit comparé. Annales Universitatis Scientiarum Budapestinensis de Rolando Eötvös nominatae, Sectio Juridica pp. 59–76.
* Hamza, Gabor (2007): Sir Henry Maine'work and the traditional legal systems. In: Chinese Culture and the Rule of Law. Ed. by China Society of Legal History. Social Sciences Academic Press (China) Beijing, pp. 417–429.
* Hamza, Gabor (2008): Sir Henry Maine et le droit comparé. In: Philia. Scritti per Gennaro Franciosi. (A cura di F. M. d'Ippolito), vol. II. Napoli pp. 1217–1232.
* [[Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff|Grant Duff, Sir M.E]] (1900). [https://archive.org/stream/notesfromadiary09duffgoog#page/n8/mode/2up ''Notes From a Diary, 1886–1888,''] [https://archive.org/stream/notesfromadiary16duffgoog#page/n6/mode/2up Vol. 2]. London: John Murray.
* Landauer, Carl (2003). "Henry Summner Maine´s Grand Tour: Roman Law and Ancient Law," ''Current Legal Issues,'' Vol. 6, pp. 135–147.
* [[Alfred Comyn Lyall|Lyall, Alfred Comyn]] [and others] (1888). [https://archive.org/stream/lawquarterlyrev13unkngoog#page/n144/mode/2up "Sir Henry Maine".] ''Law Quarterly Review'', Vol. IV, pp. 129–138.
* Mantena, Karuna (2010). ''Alibis of Empire: Henry Maine and the Ends of Liberal Imperialism.'' Princeton University Press.
* [[Sir Frederick Pollock, 3rd Baronet|Pollock, Sir Frederick]] (1890). [https://archive.org/stream/oxfordlecturesa00pollgoog#page/n162/mode/2up "Sir Henry Maine and his Work."] In: ''Oxford Lectures''. London: Macmillan Company, pp. 147–168; ''Ancient Law'', [http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=2001&Itemid=28 ''Introduction and Notes.''] London: John Murray.
* {{cite journal |author= Smellie, K. B. |year= 1928 |url= https://www.jstor.org/stable/2548385 |title= Sir Henry Maine |journal= Economica |volume= 22 |pages= 64–94 |jstor= 2548385}}
* [[Paul Vinogradoff|Vinogradoff, Paul]] (1904). [https://archive.org/stream/teachingsirhenr00vinogoog#page/n6/mode/2up ''The Teaching of Sir Henry Maine.''] London: Henry Frowde.
* {{cite book |author= Vinogradoff, Paul |author-link= Paul Vinogradoff |url= https://archive.org/details/cu31924030429017/page/n13/mode/2up |title= The Teaching of Sir Henry Maine: An Inaugural Lecture Delivered in Corpus Christi College Hall on March 1, 1904 |publisher= Henry Frowde |place= London |year= 1904 |via= [[Internet Archive]]}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
* {{cite book |chapter= Sir Henry Maine (Obituary Notice, Monday, February 6, 1888) |title= Eminent Persons: Biographies reprinted from The Times|year=1893 |publisher=Macmillan and Co., Limited |place=London |pages=[https://archive.org/details/eminentpersonsb05unkngoog/page/n35 24]–34 |volume= IV (1887–1890)|url=https://archive.org/details/eminentpersonsb05unkngoog |access-date=11 February 2019 |via= Internet Archive }}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=25592}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Henry Sumner Maine}}
* [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Search/Home?lookfor=%22Maine,%20Henry%20Sumner,%20Sir,%201822-1888.%22&type=author&inst= Works by Henry James Sumner Maine], at [[HathiTrust]]
* [http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/maine/index.html Maine, Henry Sumner]: at [http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/ McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023230127/http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/ |date=23 October 2017 }}.
* [http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php&person=3910 Maine, Henry Sumner] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230131053335/http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php&person=3910 |date=31 January 2023 }}: at [http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=149 Online Library of Liberty] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129152019/http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=149 |date=29 November 2022 }}
* [http://www.panarchy.org/maine/maine.html Henry Sumner Maine, Writings]
* {{NPG name}}
{{Portal bar|Law|Liberalism|Libertarianism|Philosophy|Politics}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Maine, Henry James Sumner}}
[[Category:1822 births]]
[[Category:1888 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:People educated at Christ's Hospital]]
[[Category:Scholars of comparative law]]
[[Category:English legal writers]]
[[Category:19th-century English historians]]
[[Category:19th-century English male writers]]
[[Category:Fellows of Trinity Hall, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Star of India]]
[[Category:British legal historians]]
[[Category:Vice-chancellors of the University of Calcutta]]
[[Category:People from Kelso, Scottish Borders]]
[[Category:Whewell Professors of International Law]]
[[Category:Masters of Trinity Hall, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Professors of Jurisprudence (University of Oxford)]]
[[Category:Regius Professors of Civil Law (University of Cambridge)]]
[[Category:English male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian male writers]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]
[[Category:Members of the Council of the Governor General of India]]
[[Category:Members of the Council of India]]
[[Category:Indian fellows of the Royal Society]]

Henry James Sumner Maine - Revision history

MichaelWhite3 at 01:15, 20 April 2026