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So great is the ascendancy of the Law of Actions in the infancy of Courts of Justice, that substantive law has at first the look of being gradually secreted in the interstices of procedure; and the early lawyer can only see the law through the envelope of its technical forms.

— Henry James Sumner Maine Dissertations on Early Law and Custom (1883)

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More quotes by Henry James Sumner Maine

Except the blind forces of Nature, nothing moves in this world which is not Greek in its origin.

The movement of the progressive societies has hitherto been a movement from Status to Contract.

The movement of progressive societies has hitherto been a movement from Status to Contract.

History is a sound aristocrat.

The prejudices of the people are far stronger than those of the privileged classes; they are far more vulgar; and they are far more dangerous, because they are apt to run counter to scientific conclusions.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Henry James Sumner Maine (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.