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INTRODUCTION.
43

says, it belongs to "the general doctrine characteristic of the English school of jurisprudence." He then adds: "This doctrine was first clearly given out by Hobbes, then taken up after a long interval by Bentham, then carried on with additions into a new generation by Austin; it has in our own time been endowed, by the work of Sir Henry Maine and others, with the breadth and flexibility that were wanting in its earlier stages, and is now accepted, with more or less development and modification, by nearly all English writers who pay any serious attention to the scientific study of law."[1]


    ment of the social contract theory in the eighteenth century, see F. Pollock's History of the Science of Politics, pp. 65-92. Willoughby gives a brief history of the theory in The State, chap. IV. For a criticism of the theory, consult Bluntschli, loc. cit.; Woolsey, Political Science, Vol. I., Pt. II., chap. II.; Willoughby, op. cit., chap. V. The principal arguments urged against the theory are, that it is conducive to anarchy; that it lacks historical foundation; and that it is illogical.

  1. ↑ Spinoza: His Life and Philosophy, chap. X. On this point, see also Robertson, Hobbes, chap. X.
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