Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 10.djvu/205

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MOOT POINTS IN SOCIOLOGY 193

established the principle that insolvency shall not cost the debtor his freedom. So was St. Paul when he conceived that the gospel was for gentiles as well as for Jews. So was St. Benedict when he devised the " Rule " that gave form to the monastic communi- ties of the West. So was Hildebrand when he imposed sacer- dotal celibacy upon the church. If we may believe Maine, the strong feeling among the Latin peoples in favor of portioning daughters is " descended by a long chain of succession from the obligatory provisions of the marriage laws of the emperor Augustus." Whoever conceived this Lex Julia et Papia Poppcea was in reality a social Edison. Pythagoras, St. Francis, and Loyola originated new types of religious con-fraternity. Grotius modified the relations of nations. Robert Raikes invented the Sunday school, Toynbee the social settlement, Le Claire the profit-sharing group, Raffeisen and Schulze-Delitzsch the co-operative credit association. Pinel and Tuke invented the modern insane hospital, Marbeau the creche, Howard and his successors the reformatory.

We know, moreover, that the evolution of law is determined, not only by the development of social needs, but also by the original conceptions and ideas of individuals. Deuteronomy is a reformers' code embodying their ideals of law. Roman law was developed by the jurisconsults, the commentators, and the prae- tors. Mohammedan law has been built up by the Muftis, or doctors of law versed in the Koran. English law owes much to the decisions conceived by innovating judges or suggested by ingenious lawyers. The Code Napoleon is virtually a codifica- tion of Pothier's commentaries on the civil law. Furthermore, the juridical speculations of Kant and Bentham have had far- reaching practical effects.

V. The contact and cross-fertilisation of cultures. A society may be swerved from its natural orbit by borrowing institutions which have originated whether by innovation or by adapta- tion in some other society. We have only to recall how the Christian church, Roman law, the feudal tenure, parliamentary government, the jury system, and the federal principle spread beyond their original habitat by imitation. The Servian consti-