Maine, Henry Sumner (1822–1888)

Sir Henry Sumner Maine was one of the most important legal academicians of the 19th century. He was born near Leighton, Scotland, educated at Cambridge, and, toward the end of his career, became Whewell Professor of International Law at Cambridge. His seminal work, Ancient Law (1861), is the product of lectures he delivered during the 1850s on Roman law and jurisprudence at London's Inns of the Court. Soon after its publication, he left the academic world to accept an appointment as the law member of the Council of Governor-General of India, charged with the responsibility of reforming and codifying Indian law. His experiences in this capacity reinforced his belief, evident in Ancient Law, that the evolution of societies—both institutionally and philosophically—can be most thoroughly understood ...