The movement of the progressive societies has hitherto been a movement from Status to Contract.
Henry James Sumner MaineThe 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.
Henry James Sumner MaineWhen primitive law has once been embodied in a Code, there is an end to what may be called its spontaneous development.
Henry James Sumner MaineOur authorities leave us no doubt that the trust lodged with the oligarchy was sometimes abused, but it certainly ought not to be regarded as a mere usurpation or engine of tyranny.
Henry James Sumner Maine