Ancient law: um clássico revisitado 150 anos depois

This article aims to highlight the importance played by Henry James Sumner Maine in the formation of legal anthropology and sociology of law. To this end, the article reviews the central thesis of his book Ancient Law and seeks to emphasize the importance of his ideas in shaping a new way to approach the relationship between law and society. For this purpose, the article retrieves the general features of the analyses of Norbert Rouland and Niklas Luhmann about the importance of Maine’s ideas.